Eureka
by valleyforgedown
Summary: In a way, she's always loved Emily. AU. A multi-chapter story following Paige and Emily on their journey to self-discovery and love. Focuses exclusively on the relationship between Paige McCullers and Emily Fields. Disclaimer for the entire story is posted only once in Chapter 1.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer**: The rights to Pretty Little Liars and the characters in the show and book do not belong to me. The story plot and any original characters do belong to me. I am not making any profit from this story.

**A/N**: Hey guys! I won't write Author Notes often, but this one is required and very long to avoid any future ones. This is my first story. I'm more of a reader than a writer, but this idea stuck in my head and a friend encouraged me to write it out, so here I am. I will rarely respond to a review, but I will always read them. I appreciate any and all thoughts on my story. If I notice several people asking me for clarification on something, I'll address it. I'm writing this for myself, but have decided to post it here so that you guys might enjoy it. I strongly suggest taking a look at my friend's story, State Your Sting by portoftheartistasayoungc if you haven't already! I post as often as I am able. I do have a rather busy life and oftentimes I work on my story in bits and pieces. Therefore, the updates will come slowly and randomly. Also, no amount of asking will cause me to post faster. The chapter lengths will vary. This is a _slow-burn_, so the content will remain largely K+/T for the majority of the story; it will change to M eventually. I'm interested in character development, which is something that can't happen in a few thousand words, in my opinion. I do a little research in regards to concepts, terms, and such. I am not an expert, and some of my knowledge is from my own personal experiences. So, pardon the misconceptions. If you decide to read my story and happen to stick with me throughout it, thank you! I have pre-written the first few chapters, so they will be posted within a few days of each other, but after that it's random. I have been known to spend a month on one chapter, so please be patient. I look forward to being with you all as we follow our favorite characters!

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><p>"Paige! Have you finished your breakfast? It's time to go!"<p>

The six-year-old slapped a tiny hand over her mouth to stifle the giggle. Her mom had given the warning call four times already, but with no response. Paige McCullers was hiding in the coat closet by the front door just waiting to burst out and give Liz a good scare. With her lucky green backpack on and slip-on Vans snug on her feet, she was technically ready way before her mom was.

Her ear pressed against the closet door, she waited with bated breath as she heard the click of heels grow closer. Finally, the sound stopped… right outside the closet. She couldn't contain her laughter anymore and threw open the door. Unfortunately, Liz was in the line of fire and stumbled ungainly to the other side of the hall, nearly falling to the ground. "Paige McCullers! What in the world did you do that for? I could have twisted my ankle! I know you're excited for school, but you really must calm down. I've been calling you for the past fifteen minutes. Have you been hiding there all that time?"

Paige had been doubled over in fits of laughter, but snapped to attention at Liz's tone. Uh-oh. However, she wasn't given a chance to explain herself before she was hurried out the door and into the car. Humph, and she'd had a good reason too!

Safely secured in her car seat with her feet dangling several inches from the car floor, she prattled on about how excited she was to start first grade. That was her devious plan: distract Liz with constant questions so the little closet door incident would be forgotten. "Mommy, who will be my first friend? Is it gonna be a girl or a boy? Is my teacher nice? How many kids are gonna be there? Do we get play time? Do I have to listen all the time? What's for lunch?"

Just as predicted, Liz spent the car ride struggling to answer the many questions, despite many being near impossible. Nothing could bring Paige's enthusiasm down, nothing! Playing with her stuffed penguin Pumbaa (the store didn't have a warthog when she was in her Lion King phase, which she was still in), she wriggled in her seat, unable to sit still. She'd always been active since the day she was born. When she learned to walk, there was no stopping her from parading around the house, determined to leave her crawling days behind – even if it resulted in a faint scar by her right eyebrow.

Unbeknownst to her, her parents frequently used certain words when talking about her. Liz described her daughter to friends as "bubbly" and "lively," even though she despised using the former. It was the word that just popped to her mind when she thought of Paige. Nick bragged to his business friends about how "determined" and "clever" his daughter was.

"Mommy, I want a puppy for my birthday," she interrupted the sudden quiet. She'd been on this kick to get a pet for the past nine months – ever since her dad's business partner, John, brought his Golden Retriever over during a visit.

"Paige, we can't get a dog right n-"

"That's what you _always_ say!" She crossed her arms and knitted her eyebrows together – the epitome of an angry child on the verge of a tantrum.

"Because it's true. Daddy's in the office for most of the day, and I'm only a little less busy at the Rosewood Police Department. The dog would be home all day by itself. It's a big responsibility."

Crossing her arms, Paige didn't give up, a determined glint in her brown eyes. "I'm reponsablity!"

She scowled fiercely as Liz failed to stile her laugh. Before she could press more, the car stopped and they were at school. All thoughts of a puppy vanished from the girl's mind as she looked out the window and saw the building of Rosewood Elementary.

Being the only public school in the district, it was appropriately sized and able to hold the expected seventy-five students ranging from first to fifth grade. Rosewood itself was a small town where most everyone knew each other. It was no surprise that the class enrollment depicted such; there were generally fifteen students per class.

Since it was the first day, the first graders started an hour later at 9AM. Therefore, the grounds were empty, save for the fourteen other first graders and their families. Paige had her car seat unbuckled and Pumbaa packed when the back door opened. Expertly hopping down, she skipped towards the school leaving Liz to lock up the car. Together though, they crossed the threshold and into the place that would be Paige's life for the next several years. They followed the signs to the first grade classroom while Paige chattered some more. "I'm so excited to make friends, play, learn to read and write, and uh, other stuff!"

"Oh, what about the past year _your dad and I_ have spent teaching you to read and write?" Liz grumbled playfully. But it was lost on her daughter as she was caught up looking around the halls.

As they came up on the room, they passed a family standing together across the hall. Paige stared curiously at the little girl crying. The woman was crouched down giving her daughter a hug while the father stood with a gentle hand on the girl's shoulder. "It'll be okay, Em. The day will fly by and we'll be back to pick you up before you know it! We both love you so much and know that you'll make a friend today." The mother had a kind voice, Paige thought absently.

She lost sight of them as she entered the classroom, eyes wide and taking in everything. Colors bombarded her. The room was spacious, with sections invisibly divided. There were a few clusters of desks, each with a nametag sticker. Every girl's desk had a Disney princess laminated on – Belle, Cinderella, Ariel; the classics. Every boy's desk had a car from the movie Cars – Lightning McQueen, Mater, Doc. Towards the back of the room by the windows sat several animal-print beanbags with a bookshelf already stocked. By the door, double-stacked open cubbies lined the wall. All in all, the classroom was very well organized. In a few days' time however, it probably wouldn't be so.

There were several children already settled in by the beanbags, playing together with their toys they brought from home. A couple sat at the desks, heads buried in their arms. Paige could tell by their shaking shoulders that they were crying, which reminded her of the little girl outside.

Busy looking around, Paige was startled when a plump, smiling woman blocked everything else – she was standing way, way too close for a stranger. "Hello! You must be Paige, and Mrs. McCullers. I'm Mrs. Cress. I'm very excited to meet you both!" She pointed out the various areas in the room and ushered them both to the cubbies, talking more to Liz than the actual student. No matter, because Paige dumped her backpack in her designated cubby, her name stickered on in black, block letters. That done, she rushed off to join the other kids playing with their toys, Pumbaa in her grasp.

"Hi! I'm Paige." She caught a couple kids off guard with her sudden arrival, but she was soon let in to play on the floor.

Some mumbled their names, but one blond girl spoke clearly from her place on the zebra beanbag. "My name's Alison, with one L."

Paige grinned up at her, a brief and strange image flashing in her mind where Alison was a Queen seated on her throne and Paige was the Jester, there to provide entertainment. "Nice to meet ya! Have you got any toys?"

Alison scrunched her nose, "No way! I like playing dress-up, but I couldn't bring all my clothes here. So, I'll just watch you all play… Is that a penguin?"

Paige's smile grew wider, encouraged that she was making a new friend and said girl would like the flightless birds as much as she did. Lifting the stuffed animal up, she said, "Yup! This is Pumbaa."

"That's a stupid name… Isn't Pumbaa the name of the fat pig from Lion King?"

That wiped the smile right off the brunette's face. Eyebrows furrowed, she struggled to come back with a witty comment, but failed. Someone else did it for her, though. And it wasn't exactly witty, but more supportive.

"Pumbaa's a warthog, and he's my favorite. And so are penguins."

Both Alison and Paige shifted their gaze to the newcomer. Paige recognized her as the girl crying out in the hall. Traces of tears were still there, but only because she knew. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Alison stare the new girl down, sizing her up. She knew, because she was doing it too. Who was this girl who had been crying minutes ago, but was now standing up for her?

"I'm Emily," New Girl added, answering both girls' silent question.

Emily was insanely tan and skinny with long, dark brown hair flowing past her shoulders. She had an awesome smile, Paige noted, that was directed at her. Wearing a navy blue dress with white sandals to match, her outfit made Paige feel very underdressed in her capris shorts and blouse with sneakers. It was Emily's eyes that held Paige's attention the longest. They were brown – almost like her own – and in the right light, had a reddish tint to them. Their color aside, they were so expressive. Paige just wanted to sit there and look at those eyes for the rest of the day.

Except Alison wasn't about to let that happen. "I'm Alison with one L, and this is-"

"I'm Paige," she finally found her words, casting a wary glance at the blond. "I'm so happy you like Pumbaa _and_ penguins! Do you want to play with him when we have play time?"

Suddenly shy, Emily mumbled an affirmative and moved to join Paige on the floor. Before she could though, someone was calling her. "Em, honey. We're leaving! We'll pick you up in a few hours." It was her mom. Emily glanced at Paige before biting her lip and waving to her parents. She had forgotten about them, distracted by the girl with a penguin named Pumbaa.

Almost immediately after, Liz called from the door also. "Paige, I'm heading to work. Samara will pick you up and take you home, okay?"

Paige nodded, blowing a kiss cheekily. She was disappointed her parents couldn't pick her up, but they were very busy and Samara was a fun babysitter.

Mrs. Cress stood in front of the whiteboard and called all the students to their desks. Paige was pleased to find Princess Belle on her desk, as well as Emily in her desk cluster; she had Princess Ariel. The day passed quickly, filled with general start-of-school things, passing out school materials, and learning the basic schedule.

When at last Mrs. Cress announced it was time for play time, or "recess" as she called it, Paige couldn't be happier. Five hours of nearly non-stop boring, non-learning school stuff was grating on her attention span. She'd already been "Shhh'd" by the teacher once for whispering to Emily during a supposed teaching period. All the first graders bolted out of their seats and crowded by the door until they reluctantly formed a single-file line in alphabetical order. Paige was stuck between a boy and a girl – Collin and Sarah. She kept stepping on the back of Collin's sneakers.

Finally, they were outside on the playground! There were monkey bars, slides, swings, and other playground things. Eyes wide, she dashed off with Collin to play tag, desperately needing to burn off the energy that had been building inside. After several rounds of successfully not being "it," she left to cool down.

That's when she remembered: Emily! Unfortunately, she hadn't been able to bring Pumbaa out with her. Scanning the area, she spotted the tan girl sitting on the swings alone, feet unable to touch the ground. Sneaking behind her, Paige put her hands on Emily's lower back and pushed. It was lucky Emily had been holding onto the chains, otherwise she'd have fallen face down into the mulchy ground. Instead, she let out a startled gasp as her swing began moving, albeit gently.

Giggling, Paige moved to the side, watching the girl's face grow from cautious to a genuine smile. "Okay, now move your legs so you can keep moving!"

It turned out Emily needed a lesson on how to properly swing, which required her to push Paige who moved her little legs the way her daddy taught her. "When you're going forward, put your legs like this." She straightened her legs. "And when you're doing back, tuck them in! Do that, and you'll swing forever!"

They took turns swinging and pushing each other until it was time to return. Before joining the others, Paige grabbed Emily's wrist and pulled her into an unexpected hug. "That was really fun. I have a swing at my home. You could come swing on it with me!" She moved to the doors, tugging Emily along and not giving her a chance to reply either.

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><p>When Samara picked Paige up from school, she sought Emily out and pressed a piece of paper into her hand.<p>

When Emily got home from school that day, she opened her fist and smoothed out the crumpled paper. There were eight words written in a crooked line, accompanied by a shakily drawn heart. It took her a minute to decipher it, and even then, needed her mom's help. _Paige McCullers and Pumbaa yur nu frends forevr_. The Y's were backwards and the R's looked more like V's, but Pam Fields came to the rescue.

When Liz and Nick McCullers came home that evening, Paige announced over dinner, "I've made a new friend. Her name is Emily and she likes penguins and Pumbaa the warthog." She smiled broadly and proceeded to eat her peas.

When Paige fell asleep that night, she still had that smile on her face and thought, _Emily._


	2. Chapter 2

The sound of penguins – intermittent bursts of thrumming – filled the silence in the room. Paige fumbled sleepily for her new shnazzy alarm clock, yawning and throwing back the covers with a big huff. Tiny hands rubbed at her tired eyes before… Paige sat upright, a huge grin spreading across her face. She had a play date with Emily today!

She looked at the framed picture on her bedside table fondly. Her mom had taken it during the girls' first play date. Emily was on the swing – Pumbaa tucked securely between her arm and body – laughing with the biggest smile directed at the camera. Paige was on the adjacent swing, an equally large grin on her face. Except, she wasn't looking at the camera. Her eyes were settled on her friend. Paige remembered thinking how pretty Emily looked in that instant. She was glad Liz managed to capture that special moment.

A knock on her door brought her out of her reverie. The door opened a second later and her dad came in, dressed down in jeans and a t-shirt. "Paigey? Good, you're up. I've got breakfast ready downstairs. Mom had to meet with someone for work, but she'll be back before Emily comes over. Are you excited?"

She nodded eagerly, jumping out of bed and opening her dresser drawers. Since she was a big girl now, she'd decided that she could pick out her own outfits. She spoke quickly as she tossed some jean capris and a long sleeve t-shirt on (no modesty in sight). "Em and I are gonna play outside today."

"Swing set?" Nick asked knowingly.

Paige shook her head, "Nope. Can you take us to the park, Daddy?"

"What's the magic word?"

She huffed dramatically, "Pleaseeee."

Nick pretended to think long and hard before sighing, "I _suppose_ I could take you girls. But after you eat breakfast, brush your teeth and c-"

"Comb my hair. You've only told me this since forever, Dad!" Paige left him in her room and skipped downstairs. The dining table was set up for one, food already plated and a glass of pulpy orange juice nearby. The menu was scrambled eggs, bacon, and one piece of French toast. Thrilled, the six-year-old sat down and began scarfing it all down. Except, some went down the wrong pipe and she started coughing. This was a regular occurrence, shown by Nick coming down and giving her three firm pats on her back.

"Paigey, how many times do I need to tell you to slow down and actually chew your food? We could take an x-ray right now and probably find a whole chunk of bacon in your tummy, not even chewed up!" He couldn't help but guffaw at his daughter's constant energy. Last year for Christmas, he and Liz snuck a pack of Energizer batteries in Paige's stocking. After they explained the joke to her through tears of laughter, Paige had scrunched up her nose and retorted, "I don't need these. They need me!" More laughter ensued after that.

Finally able to breathe, Paige giggled and washed everything down with juice. "I'm done! When's Em gonna get here?"

"Ten minutes. Hurry and go-"

Paige flew up the stairs, missing the rest Nick had said. Unable to take the stairs two at a time (yet), she scrambled up on all fours, channeling her inner dog. Once in the bathroom, she set her Scooby-Doo timer for three minutes and proceeded to brush her teeth until it went off. Tossing the toothbrush carelessly into the cup holder, she raked her brush through her hair, taking care to make sure her bangs were in order. They were new, something she insisted on over the summer. They were cut low, brushing her eyebrows. Her hair had a slight wave to it, which gave the overall look a messy feel. Oh well. Satisfied with her work, Paige settled on her bed, Pumbaa in her lap. She waited, listening carefully for the sound of a car engine. This lasted two minutes before she jumped up and stood by the window facing the street. Where was her mom? Emily?

Sighing, she fiddled with Pumbaa's wings. "Are you excited? Maybe we'll see a doggie at the park!" The muffled hum of an engine interrupted her chat with the penguin. Jumping in place, she saw two cars pulling into the driveway. One was her mom's and the other she recognized as the Fields' Toyota 4Runner. Nick called her downstairs. With Pumbaa in her grip, she made her way down the stairs, careful not to fall. As she touched the last step, the front door opened. Liz came through, briefcase in hand. Immediately after, Pam entered with Emily right behind. Paige's face lit up, thrilled to see her friend.

"Paige! How are you? Is school going well? Are you keeping Emily in line?" Pam was in a chatty mood; usually she just greeted the girl before moving on to talk with Liz. Not today it seemed.

Hiding her impatience, Paige grinned up at the woman and nodded. "Oh yeah. I'm good. We had a spelling quiz Friday and I nailed it! Em doesn't need me to keep her straight. I'm the one that needs her! Mrs. Cress tends to yell at me a lot for-" Oops, she wasn't supposed to say that!

Liz was in the other room luckily, so she didn't hear. But Pam raised her eyebrows, a smirk on her lips. "Don't worry, I won't tell your mom. You and Emily go play, okay? What are you two going to do?"

"The park!" Paige chirped.

She saw Emily's shy smile grow wider, happy to hear the news. They always had the most fun there, with so much space to run around and burn energy. Paige grabbed Emily's hand and dragged her upstairs before Mrs. Fields could talk any more. Once in her room, she collapsed in a fit of giggles for no reason other than being with her friend. It was only after she calmed down that she spotted something new about Emily. Jumping up, she looked closer. "Em! You have a stuffed animal! What's its name?"

Suitably prompted, the tan girl carefully revealed her toy from under her arm. It was a blue-grey shark with a red bandana tied around its neck. "His name is Bruce, from Finding Nemo. It's the Rosewood High School's mascot. I got him from the head swimming coach. I wanna swim for the team when I get older!"

Eyes wide, Paige grinned. "Wow, that's so cool! You swim? I didn't know that. I kinda know how, but maybe I'll get lessons. We can swim together! Do you want to, instead of the park?"

"I didn't bring my swim suit with me…"

"Don't worry, Em. You can use one of mine! We're the same, I think." Paige stepped close, her nose almost brushing Emily's. Their eyes were level, but as Paige lifted her hand to compare, her results were skewed, as most seven-year-olds tended to unknowingly lift up a bit. "I'm a little taller, by this much." She pinched her index finger and thumb together with half an inch of space between.

"No way! I'm looking right into your eyes. We're the exact same!" Emily proceeded to do the same process, except her hand managed to stay level and it ended up stopping right on top of Paige's. "See?"

Paige couldn't help but giggle at Emily's triumphant smile. "Yeah, okay Ems. Whatever you say! So you wanna swim today? Pumbaa and Bruce can come with, but sit on the chairs and watch. It'll have to be the inside pool though, because it's winter."

When the tan girl gave her approval, Paige shot for her dresser, yanking the bottom drawer open. She presented Emily with two options, both one-pieces; one was navy blue and white, and the other was solid black. Emily took the black one, so Paige tossed the leftover on her bed and started to undress.

"Paige? What are you doing?" Emily sounded nervous.

The girl in question stopped pulling her capris down and quirked her lips at Emily. "Uh, changing? If you don't wanna do it in my room, the bathroom's down the hall."

Emily's face had a slight reddish hue to it as she scurried out of the room, but Paige didn't see it as she went back to changing. Tripping slightly as she slipped out of her jeans, Paige finally managed to wrestle the swimsuit on. It was just a bit snug. She'd have to get some new ones – especially if she and Emily were going to swim more often.

There was a knock on her door, which opened to reveal Nick. "Honey? There isn't a pool at the park..."

"Can we go to the pool instead? Em swims and I wanna take lessons!"

He started to reply, but moved to the side when Emily returned. "Hey, Emily. So, you guys want to go to the pool? We can do that. It's only open for another week though, because it closes on the first of November for renovations. I'll be downstairs. Pack towels and a change of clothes girls." He and Liz had a very hands-off approach to raising Paige for certain things. They wanted her to be independent, but also be able to ask them for help. It was lucky that Paige accepted it well, instead of throwing a fit. She was determined and had a natural "I can do it myself" streak.

Once the girls were alone, Emily shyly asked, "What should I do with my clothes?"

Paige grabbed a sizable tote bag and opened it for Emily to toss her things in. Paige did the same, then moved to the bathroom and squished two towels in. "There! Let's put some clothes on over our suits."

Back in Paige's room, she tossed some sweats and a hoodie over her shoulder to Emily. She chose some athletic shorts and a crew neck sweatshirt for herself. "Now we won't freeze on the way there! You ready to go, Em?"

Emily nodded, feeling very comfortable in her friend's clothes. Satisfied, Paige took the other girl's hand and led them down the stairs. "Dad! We're ready to go."

Nick stood from his seat in the living room and grabbed the keys from the hook. "Liz, honey! I'm taking the girls to the indoor pool. We won't be too long!"

Paige opened the front door and ran to the car empty-handed, leaving Nick to bring the bag. Emily was hot on her heels and the two of them burst into a fit of giggles outside, while trying to stop their teeth from chattering. It was cold! Finally, the car doors unlocked and they piled in quickly, yelling and hollering once inside. The chilly air definitely amped up their energy level, much to Nick's dismay.

During the short drive over, Nick asked, "So, Emily. Paige said you swim." He was clearly fishing for more.

The little girl nodded, "Yes. I'm on the local team. I'm okay, I mean I just started really swimming in June. My coach says I've gotten really good."

"I'm sure you have! Seven months is a long time. What did your family do for the holidays?"

Paige wanted to tell her dad to stop talking to Emily, that she wanted her friend all to herself, but Emily was petting Bruce while speaking and shooting Paige sneaky grins when Nick wasn't glancing in the rearview mirror. So, she let them talk.

"My dad was home, so we all just stayed home and watched some Christmas movies and played board games. We went sledding too when it snowed. Well, my mom stood and took pictures while me and my dad went down the hill. It was so fun, I wish you guys had been home."

"That's great! Your dad's in the National Guard, right?" Nick pulled into the parking lot. "Yeah, we're sad we missed out on that too. But, we went to visit relatives over in California for a couple weeks. Next year, hopefully we'll stay in town!"

Emily nodded to confirm Nick's question, but smiled shyly at Paige as she replied, "I'd like to spend next Christmas with you guys too."

Paige grinned, nodded eagerly. She didn't get a chance to elaborate because they were at the pool.

The three of them checked in at the front and not five minutes later, Paige and Emily jumped into the pool, hands clasped together. Nick settled down in a chair and read the newspaper. The girls splashed around for some time before Paige pulled herself out and sat on the edge. "Hey, Em. Can you show me what you do at the swim games?"

"They're called meets, but I guess!"

Paige watched with fascination as Emily did a lap of freestyle, breaststroke, backstroke, and then a somewhat sloppy butterfly. By the end of it all, the swimmer was tired, catching her breath while she held on the edge by Paige. She usually didn't swim that hard even during practice, but the smile her friend was sporting was well worth it.

"Emily, that was so cool! You're so good! I really wanna learn how to swim like you. Maybe even join the team you're on! Just – wow!" Paige continued to gush and lavish praise on Emily. She made it look so easy!

The remainder of the time, they stayed in the shallow end and played a relaxed game of tag while also chatting. Laughter filled the pool – they were the only ones there today. Finally, after a couple hours, Nick called it quits. He loved seeing them play and the happiness in Paige's eyes was clear. But his stomach was growling and didn't doubt the girls' were too.

Dried and dressed in the sweats and hoodies, the girls shuffled into the car, headed home. Paige leaned against the door and Emily huddled against her friend. Their stuffed animals lay on the other side. Everyone was tired. Eyes closed, Paige quietly whispered in Emily's ear, "Em? You're my bestest friend. And I'm so happy."

Emily tilted her head from its place on Paige's shoulder. "Yeah? You're mine too."

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><p>When they arrived back at the house, Nick glanced back and found them both asleep, Paige's arm wrapped around Emily.<p>

When Liz peeked out the window, she saw her husband carrying Emily in. She rushed out and brought her daughter in.

When Pam Fields came to pick her daughter up, she was surprised by how quiet the house was. "The girls fell asleep in the car. They're upstairs in Paige's room," Nick explained.

When Emily woke up a second time, she realized she was in her own bed and still wearing Paige's clothes. Bruce was nestled in her arms. Extremely comforted by the warmth and smell of the clothes, she fell back asleep.

When Paige woke up, she was disappointed to see she was in her room, and alone. She had a feeling Emily had left. Rolling over, she felt and heard the crinkle of paper. Reading it, her frown turned upside down. The handwriting was a lot neater than hers and the spelling was more accurate. _Today wuz so much fun! Your the bestest friend ever._ It was signed with a simple _E_.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N**: Regarding the length of this story: We're only in their childhood years and I devote anywhere from 1-3 chapters to each grade/year. So, it's going to be a long one. This is the last chapter I had pre-written. Stick around for the next one! Many thanks to my friend for her endless encouragement.

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><p>"The next word is <em>bake<em>. 'I want to bake a cake.'" Mrs. Cress slowly circled the desks, making sure her students were keeping their eyes on their own paper.

Paige huffed quietly, erasing the _c_ she had inserted between the _a_ and the _k_. She knew what the word _cake_ looked like, and guessed that since bake rhymed with cake, only the first letters would be different.

It was the last spelling quiz – making it a test – during the last hour of class, on the last day of school, which meant summer started as soon as she finished. She trembled in her seat, barely able to contain her excitement. A desk in her cluster shifted when the occupant shifted. Paige didn't need to peer over the privacy folders to know it was Emily.

"The next word is _field_. 'There was a field of flowers.'" The teacher's voice broke through any daydreaming of Paige's. The girl smirked; she knew this word. After all, she and Emily had made a point to learn how to spell each other's names. She struggled with _Fields_ – repeatedly forgetting the _i _or switching the two vowels around. Emily had an easier time learning _McCullers_, despite its length. Spelling seemed to come naturally to her. Paige was learning that many things seemed to come naturally to Emily.

Gripping her pencil tightly, she confidently wrote: _F-i-e-l-d-s_, but then went back and erased the _s_. She grinned widely, just knowing that Emily was probably laughing about it too.

"Okay, only three more words. But," Mrs. Cress raised her voice over the quiet cheering. "They're going to be challenge words." The cheering ended and low groans echoed around. All the students dreaded this part of the quiz. Normally it was just one challenge word. Not this time.

"The first challenge word is _crowd_. 'The _crowd_ made it hard to see anything.'"

Paige silently yelled at herself. She definitely knew how to spell it, but when she tried to picture the word in her mind, she was at a loss. She saw the _c_, the _r_, and the _d_, but the letters in between were evading her. It did rhyme with _loud_, a word she knew because her parent never failed to let her know when she was being such. Huffing loudly, she just inserted an _o_ and a _u_ in the middle. Mrs. Cress would be moving on to the next wo-

"The second challenge word is _farther_. 'He went farther down the road.'"

Alison with one L whined loudly a desk cluster away. Paige smirked. She knew this one mainly because she knew how to spell _father_ and _far_. Put them together, and viola! Confident, she scribbled a _3_. Last challenge word!

"The last challenge word is…" Mrs. Cress was one for dramatics. "_Pretty_. 'The girl is very pretty.'"

Paige flashed back to her first play date with Emily. Yes, she definitely thought the girl is very pretty. Grinning happily, she correctly spelled: _p-r-e-t-t-y_. That was easy! The quiet of the classroom was soon replaced with the rustle of loose-leaf paper held in the air for Mrs. Cress to collect. Taking her privacy folder down, Paige looked across her desk cluster and found Emily's brown eyes. So pretty… Her friend blushed, "You ready for our sleepover, Paige?"

She nodded eagerly, jumping from her desk – bye, Belle – and running to grab her backpack. The students couldn't leave right away, unfortunately. They had to gather all their projects and school supplies they had accumulated over the year as well as say goodbye to their dear teacher. Mrs. Cress was flittering from one to another, helping with this and that.

Both of the girls' parents encouraged them to bring their classwork home every week. As a result, neither had much to bring home. Some of their peers were laden with artwork, old tests and quizzes, and other nick nacks. Paige only had to worry about her school supplies and Pumbaa. The schoolbooks she had used were property of Rosewood Elementary. Glancing to her left, she saw Emily at her cubby. Bruce was tucked under her arm and she was looking at some scraps of paper in her hands.

Curious, Paige moved over and when she saw the papers, grinned. "I didn't know you kept all of them!"

Emily jumped a little, brought out of her thoughts. Shooting Paige a sheepish smile, she nodded. "Yeah, since the beginning."

The scraps of paper had lines of writing scrawled on. Most had only one line. A few had three. They were the little notes the girls would secretly pass to each other over the school year. Paige would write down something she thought Emily would laugh at, or something a peer did, or sometimes just to say "hey." Most of the one-liners were from Paige. Emily rarely replied because of the risk of being caught. Plus, she wanted to keep the notes and it would be embarrassing if Paige found that out. Emily would occasionally be the first to pass a note over and Paige always sent a reply back. All of the three-liners were ones Paige started, Emily replied once, and Paige sent back again. Then Emily kept it.

Paige nudged her friend, "I'm glad. Can I have them to add to my shoebox?"

Both girls had their own shoeboxes appropriately marked "Paige & Ems" and "Emily and Paige." They were filled with little trinkets that held dear memories they had together. Both boxes had notes from the girls to each other that they would leave secretly hidden in their room after a play date. Paige's box had some pennies they found head's-up while out exploring the park. It also contained a hard, orange ball Emily found and gave her for her birthday back in October – "It's a field hockey ball, Paigey," Nick told her. There were also various pet rocks and little pipe cleaner animals. Every time they hung out, the shoebox filled a bit more. Each found sometime to take home and hide away.

Emily's box had a page with her favorite picture – two girls on a swingset – that Paige ripped out for her. Emily had been furious that her best friend would ruin a book like that, but at the same time she was touched that Paige did it because she knew Emily wanted it. Emily had several pictures of her and Paige that her mom had taken in her box. Paige's copies of the pictures were strewn around her room where she saw them daily. Emily's box also had a pair of black goggles from Paige for her birthday. Emily preferred to keep them in the box rather than use them. Plus, they were a bit big. There were other things in the box – the wrapping from her first Kit Kat candy bar, a small elephant figure Paige bought with her own money for Emily's seventh birthday, and a ticket to the zoo in Philadelphia.

She brought the scraps to her chest, "But Paige, I want them too!" After all, she had kept them over the year.

"Can we split them? Please, Em? I really want just some of them." Paige didn't understand why the girl was hesitating. She offered up her best puppy-dog eyes.

Emily relented, shuffling through them, keeping a few of her select favorite, and handed over a stack. "Okay, Paige. Only because you're my best friend!"

Paige squealed and threw her arms around Emily. "Thank you so much! Are you ready to go and play? Because I'm _so_ ready!"

Her enthusiasm was infectious and Emily didn't even try to hold back the huge grin or the equally tight hug she returned. They said goodbye to their teacher and a few other kids. Alison surprised them by wishing them a good summer. Until she added, "Losers." The girls relaxed upon hearing that. The day Alison with one L was nice would be when pigs fly.

Ten minutes later the two of them were seated in the back of Samara's Honda Civic chatting about plans for their first summer together. Since befriending Emily, Paige tended to go to the Fields' house whenever Liz and Nick went out. Samara still came to watch Paige on occasion, but with less frequency. She remained Paige's ride home though. When Emily came over for a sleepover, Samara drove them both to the McCullers residence. Sometimes both girls' parents went out together and thus the seventeen-year-old babysitter also came to watch them. During these times, she tended to stay in the living room and watch television; the girls didn't need to be entertained when they had each other.

Paige smiled back at the blond in the rear view mirror. Despite the age gap, Paige considered her a friend. When it was just the two of them at her house, they played board games or watched television or chatted about random things.

The ten-minute drive to Paige's house didn't last long and Emily was out of the car seconds after it stopped. Samara opened the back door for Paige and winked, "Emily's a keeper, Paige. Don't let her get away."

The girl looked at her babysitter, confused, but Samara had already turned to get back in her car. Paige chased after Emily into her house, the advice shoved to the back of her mind.

By the time Paige dumped her backpack in her room, Emily was settled in the kitchen talking with Liz.

"So Emily, I don't know if Paige has told you, but we're going to have a po-"

"Mommy!" Paige interrupted, sending a fierce glare at her mother.

Liz clapped her hand over her mouth. "I'm so sorry, honey! I forgot you wanted to tell Emily." She had the decency to look abashed. "You know what? I'm gonna go uh, and look at some papers for work." She flapped her hands about and retreated to the dining room.

"Paige?" Emily questioned.

The glare dissipated and Paige grabbed her friend's hand before bouncing to the back door. "Okay, so this is our back yard right? Wellllll, we're gonna get a pool! My dad says because we're swimming a lot and getting real good, we should have our own pool! So you can come over all the time and we can swim together!" Paige stared at Emily, watching for her reaction.

Emily's eyebrows shot up, "Paige! That's so cool! When will it get here?"

"Well, some people have to build it, but I dunno. Hopefully this summer so we can use it!"

They wandered up to Paige's room where she deposited her half of the notes into her shoebox. She had to dig around in the back of her closet, but she found it and placed them carefully inside. While both girls knew about each other's boxes and where they were, they had never looked inside them. It was an unspoken rule. Paige didn't ask to see Emily's, nor did she offer to show her own. They knew of a few trinkets that were inside, but most were kept secret.

Satisfied, Paige emerged from her closet and found Emily looking at the picture by her bed – the swinging one. She knew Emily had a copy of her own, but didn't know where she kept it. "So, Ems. You wanna go to the park 'til dinner? We could look for four-leaf clovers or climb the trees."

"Yeah, let's do it! But after dinner I wanna show you something my daddy showed me."

Fifteen minutes later, the girls tumbled out of Liz's Toyota Camry and barely contained their giggles as they ran to their favorite spot under a tall, aged oak tree. The park wasn't extravagant, certainly not Central Park. It was a medium space with trees, a few wooden benches, and one fountain that spouted water during the summer. Located in the center of Rosewood and across from the police station, it was a safe place for children to play under the supervision of their parents.

They left Pumbaa and Bruce on the bench nearby that Liz usually sat on before running to the aged playground set. There was one set of monkey bars, one slide, and three platform structures. Emily had been sorely disappointed their first visit to learn there was no swing set. However, Paige had been quick to remind her of the set at her house.

For twenty minutes, they played tag and took turns being "it." Liz was the designated safe base. Eventually, Paige called a time out, her hands on her knees and out of breath. "Em! Can we play save the princess now?"

Equally exhausted, Emily nodded, "But I wanna be the princess this time!" Maybe it was because her dad called her his princess, but she much preferred being the princess. Plus, she liked watching Paige do everything she could to save the damsel in distress, no matter the challenges. Emily thought Paige secretly liked being the hero.

They visited Liz first and gulped down some water and munched on crackers. Refreshed, Paige sat down next to her mom while Emily scurried off under Liz's watchful gaze. Rosewood was small, but it wasn't exempt from crime. Paige covered her eyes with her tiny hands, waiting for the signal. Liz saw Emily's thumbs up from the girl's spot at the top of the metal slide.

"Be careful, Emily!"

Emily nodded vigorously. Pam Fields would skin both Emily and Liz alive if anything happened to the former.

"Sir Knight Paige McCullers, you may venture forth and rescue the princess," Liz commanded in her best queen's voice.

Paige shot off towards the trees and called out, "Oh Princess, where art thou?"

In the middle of the park, Emily replied, "Here, kind Knight! Please save me from the evil dragon!"

Paige grinned; the dragon was her favorite. Breaking from the trees, she ran straight towards the slide.

"Wait! Watch out for the slime monster in front of you! It can spit slime balls at you," Emily warned.

Paige scrunched her nose in disgust, but yelled out at the imaginary monster nonetheless. She attempted a drop-and-roll maneuver that turned out to be more of a stumble-and-flail. Unfazed, she jumped up and ran around, trying to circle the slide.

"Oh! The evil kidnappers who caught me are behind you! They have swords."

The knight whirled around and brandished a large stick. She jabbed at imaginary bandits and ducked to dodge a blow to the head. She parried a hit and kicked at the air. Huffing, Paige called out, "They're all dead, Princess. I'll head up to you now!"

She moved forward without issue. She had just gotten to the bottom of the ladder on the slide when Emily gave a very convincing shriek that caused Liz to ask if everything was okay. The girls reassured her they were fine and Paige scolded her for interrupting their game.

"What is it, Princess? What's wrong?"

Emily pointed towards the sky. "The dragon! It's coming for you! Be careful; it can use its claws and shoot fire."

Paige scrambled back from the slide and took a very accurate stance of a brave knight preparing for battle. Fiery brown eyes scanned the sky and locked on a cloud that suspiciously looked like a dragon. Shouting a battle cry, she charged forward and swung her sword at the approaching enemy. The dragon was huge and when it billowed its membrane-like wings, Paige was forced back, unable to brace against the wind. She could hear Emily's pretend yells, urging her onward. She had a princess to save!

Paige found her footing and began taunting the beast. "Hey, big ugly! Bet you can't catch me!" She dashed for the shallow tree line and took cover behind a trunk. When the dragon followed and poked its large snout between the trees, the knight seized the opportunity to jab it with her sword. The dragon reared back and struggled to take to the air. However, Paige scurried forward and punched it in the stomach. In her mind, that was the final hit. The monster yielded and flew away. "Don't come back; there's more where that came from!"

Victorious, she ran to the slide and climbed up with ease. Grinning widely, she held Emily from behind and they slid down together. Emily stood and brushed dirt off her imaginary dress. Paige bowed low, offering her stick up to the princess. The royal lady graciously accepted and curtsied. "Thank you so much, brave knight! You saved me once again."

Paige blushed in spite of herself. She took her friend's hand and placed a delicate kiss upon it. She watched as Emily's cheeks colored and wanted nothing more than to place an equally gentle kiss upon them like she'd seen in the movies. But Emily was sometimes skittish about personal space. Some days she had no problem cuddling with Paige, Pumbaa, and Bruce as they watched movies, while other days she would be hesitant to even hug Paige.

Before either girl could react further, the click of a camera distracted them. Liz had kneeled down to capture the sweet moment between the friends. "Well, Sir Knight, England thanks you for saving the princess. I have a chariot waiting to take us all to the castle for a fine feast!" And just like that, the spell was broken.

Emily giggled as Paige rolled her eyes dramatically. "Mommy, we don't live in a castle! That's Alison with one L. She always talks about how big her house is." The air around them thickened. Over the past year, Ali had become Paige and Emily's most disliked person. The blond constantly teased them, did her best to control them, and never missed an opportunity to flaunt her wealth and high societal status. Liz and Pam weren't fond of the DiLaurentis family – hadn't been even before their girls started school.

Emily scoffed, surprising the McCullers. "She's a meanie and my mommy said we should ignore meanies."

"Pam is a smart lady, Emily," Liz commented. Why hadn't she thought to tell Paige that?

Paige hurried to open the back door for her friend, offering a hand and a giggle. "Your chariot, Princess."

The car ride back to the McCullers was quiet, both girls tuckered out from their games. The adrenaline rush had dissipated and left them weary. When they arrived home, Paige and Emily went upstairs to play with Pumbaa and Bruce, but ended up passing out instead.

Liz prepared dinner, rattling pots and pans, and sautéing chicken cutlets. She steamed some broccoli, cooked rice, and cut half a cantaloupe. Nick came home just as everything was ready to serve. He graciously set the table before heading upstairs to check on the girls.

Opening the bedroom door, he found them on the bed. Paige had no pillow and was spread out eagle-like with Pumbaa by her side. The pillow was actually on Paige, with Emily's head resting on it. Bruce lay at the foot of the bed looking rather left out. "Girls, wake up," Nick called quietly. He remained by the door as they began to stir. Emily sat up and got her surroundings. She took in their close proximity and blushed. Nudging Paige, she nearly fell off the bed when Paige responded by flailing a bit.

"Wha? Oh, hey Dad." She sniffed the air. "Dinner time?"

Nick didn't have a chance to respond before Paige shot out the room, Emily's hand firmly in her grip. His job was done so he followed behind slowly.

Dinner at the McCullers' was rarely a quiet event. When Emily visited, quiet was a non-existent word. For Paige, dinner was important. It was a constant in her life when her parents were home and they could be together. Each family member took turns talking about their day with Paige taking up most of the time with her stories. She absolutely adored having Emily over for dinner though. She was just so happy and suspected Emily felt the same. Compared to Paige, she was much quieter, but had no issue with letting Paige run the show.

"-and Em's gonna show me something her daddy showed her! Can we be excused now?" Paige wriggled in her seat, eager to leave and play. Her plate was mostly empty, except for some little stalks of broccoli.

"I think Emily can speak for herself," Liz gestured.

Emily hastened to speak up, "I'm done too, Mrs. Liz. May I be excused?"

The woman smirked and relented. "I'll take care of your plates girls, but just this once!"

Emily led Paige to the living room, hands on her hips. "This should work just fine! We need lots and lots of blankets, pillows, and a night-light. Some bed sheets too. My daddy called it a fort. It's kind of like a castle, and he told me that soldiers would make them and defend them. Okay?"

Paige nodded enthusiastically; she was already loving the idea. "So we'll make our own! And no growned-ups allowed. Just you, me, Pumbaa and Bruce! Let's go get the stuff."

For the next fifteen minutes, they ran through the house ("Careful, girls. And use your inside voices!") collecting the necessary things. They stripped Paige's bed of its penguin flannel sheets and took the soft, green blanket at the foot of it. Emily chatted with the parents while their daughter snuck into their room and took their very large and very fluffy down comforter and smuggled it downstairs in the living room. They took Paige's pillow, two of the adults' three pillows, and the guest bedroom pillow. Emily grabbed the plugin night-light from the bathroom and Paige carried their stuffed animals down.

With everything together, Emily started building the fort, directing her friend where to help and also pointing out the really important parts of it – the backs of sofas always provided a good wall. They moved said sofa around the room until the back was facing a corner. Paige brought in a chair to act as a pillar to hold the bed sheet up, which became the fort's ceiling. Emily used a hair-tie to tie the end of the sheet around the finial of the chair. They used a tall floor lamp as another pillar. It wasn't long before they were finished with the actual building.

"Now, the fun part! We can make it all pretty and stuff," exclaimed Emily.

They laid the big comforter down first, then came the green blanket, and the pillows. There wasn't a plug for the night-light, so Paige went and shuffled through her dad's toolbox for a flashlight. It was large, heavy, and dirty. With some soap and water though, she cleaned it nicely. She grabbed another bed sheet from the linen closet and draped it over the "door" of the fort. Emily thought her friend was a natural fort maker.

Finally, the fort was finished and furnished. Both girls grinned excitedly at each other before clambering in. It was spacious enough for them to fit together and lay half spread-eagle. Paige rolled on her back and looked up. "Wow. This is so cool! I wanna sleep in here tonight."

Emily smiled to herself, pleased. "I wish we could see stars. That'd be cool."

Paige hummed and shifted on her side. "I had fun today, Em. That dragon didn't stand a chance against me," she boasted.

They were quiet for a while, Paige's eyes tracing Emily's profile. She was starting to doze off when her friend spoke. "I like being the princess because it's you saving me."

"I like being the one to save you. I wouldn't like the game if anyone else played with us."

Emily paused before turning her head and pressing her lips to Paige's. It was brief and feather-light. She giggled after.

Paige's mouth turned up as she grinned. "What was that for, Princess?"

"Princesses always kiss their knight in shining armor after they're saved."

The parents appeared outside the fort's door, interrupting whatever Paige was going to say. "Girls?"

Paige poked her head out. "Can we sleep in here tonight? We're gonna sleep soon. We're sl-" A yawn interrupted her.

Liz smiled and nodded. "Night, Emily." She leaned down and pressed a kiss to her daughter's forehead. Nick offered a fist to bump.

Ten minutes later, Emily had passed out and Paige was on her way to it. She thought how she didn't want anyone else to be Emily's knight.

* * *

><p>Two weeks later, Paige and Emily were being monkeys. Meaning, they were climbing trees. They'd been at it for the past few days and attempted to climb any tree they deemed worth the effort. They had tired of trees for the day and decided on the monkey bars and playground set at the park. Pam Fields had the day off and took her turn watching over the girls. She sat with a book on their usual bench.<p>

"Paige! Come on up here." Emily had managed to settle on top of the monkey bars, balancing herself on the single bar connecting all the bars.

Never to be outdone, Paige lifted herself up, slowly moving up the triangle shaped bar. For being just seven-years-old, both girls had a decent amount of muscle on them both from swimming and their high activity level. She curled her body up and her feet rested on the bar as Paige pulled the rest of her body up and onto the bars. She looked around, amazed what a few more feet above the platform could offer. Tiny hands gripping the bar tightly, she laughed out loud.

However, the sound alerted Pam of just what they were up to and she frantically made her way over. "Girls! What are you doing up there? It's so dangerous. What if you slipped and fell and hit your head! Come down right now." The party pooper helped them down safely and banished them from trying that again. She went back to her post.

Emily sighed heavily, bummed. Paige looked at the pair of bars a little bit away. There were three poles, and two bars between each. One bar was half a foot higher than the other. Perfect.

Five minutes later and the girls were monkeying their way on them. Paige hung upside down, the bar held tightly between the backs of her knees. She started getting dizzy though, courtesy of all the blood flowing down. Reaching up, she righted herself before dropping on solid ground. Emily was on the higher one. "Paige, watch!"

She gripped the bar with her hands and let her body fall, resulting in a tricky twist move. She tried it again, but her right hand slipped and before Paige could rush forward to help, Emily was on the ground, cradling her left wrist and tears streaming down her face. Paige kneeled down and called to Pam. The woman saw her daughter crying and practically flew over.

After several minutes of crying and hiccupped explanations, all three of them were in Pam's 4Runner headed to Rosewood's Hospital. Being a small town had its benefits and Emily was able to be seen almost immediately. Paige had grabbed Emily's uninjured hand and had yet to let go. Five minutes in the assigned exam room and the door opened to reveal a young, handsome man. "Hello. I'm Dr. Wren Kingston." He looked up from the file folder and offered a kind smile.

He asked some general questions before getting to the point. "Emily, can you tell me what happened?" He took her hurt hand and began gently prodding the area. Paige watched him closely, protective of her friend. She also was wary of his accent. Humph.

Emily shyly spoke, explaining what she and Paige were doing and how she fell. Dr. Kingston found the most painful spot, judging by the girl's sudden whimper. Cue Paige McCullers' death glare. Pam continued rubbing her daughter's back.

"Well, it is definitely sprained. Maybe fractured. Mrs. Fields, I'd like to get an x-ray of her wrist. Would that be okay?"

Pam nodded, "Of course. Do we go with, or…?"

"You both can come with us, but you'll have to wait right outside."

They walked through the halls and entered a spacious room with an examination table and some chairs. Dr. Kingston placed a protective smock over Emily's body and had her sit in one of the chairs. He carefully placed her left wrist on the table and maneuvered a large, steel arm with a specialized plate above the hand. "This is when we take the x-ray. If you ladies will wait just outside, we'll be done shortly."

A nurse in lavender scrubs entered to help the doctor while Pam and Paige stood outside. Pam explained what exactly an x-ray was and how it would help Emily. Paige was too busy worrying about her friend to listen well.

True to his word, Dr. Kingston was finished after ten long minutes. They returned to the exam room and he explained the results. Placing a black sheet of film over a viewing light, he explained, "So Emily has a fractured wrist. It's very slight; a hairline fracture here. It's very minute and should take at most, a month to heal. I don't expect her to have any problems in the future. I'll have Sally pop on a cast. Come back in 3 weeks to have it removed and then I'll give you a brace to wear for the week. You can keep it, too." He stood, shook hands with Pam and left.

Paige studied her friend for any signs of pain. As long as Emily didn't move it, she was fine. Nurse Sally came in with a box of tools. She wrapped Emily's wrist gently with a stockinette followed by some cast padding. She then applied several rolls of soaked plaster casting around the wrist followed by the last layer of blue gauze. Paige was relieved when the ordeal was over and they were headed home. Emily grabbed Paige's hand in the car and smiled sweetly at her. "Don't worry. I'll be better super quick."

Paige sighed, reassured.

* * *

><p>"Go Paige!" Emily shouted amongst the roar from her fellow swimmates.<p>

Unfortunately, Pam refused to let Emily swim in their second to last meet. She claimed that Emily's wrist wasn't 100% yet. No arguing against Pam. So, Emily sat with her local team on the bleachers and cheered her heart out for her other half. Paige was in her last heat for freestyle – her best stroke. It was no secret that Paige and Emily were the team's best swimmers. While they didn't spend _every_ minute outside of school in the pool together, they split half their free time between the pool and miscellaneous fun things. Emily was serious about swimming and Paige was serious about Emily… and also swimming.

Paige couldn't hear Emily's cheer specifically, but she just knew that her friend was supporting her. The knowledge pushed her harder and she increased her stroke rate. Her form started getting a bit sloppy though, so she forced herself to focus. She recalled the times in the pool when Emily would act as a judge and criticize her stroke. Paige concentrated more and increased her kicking, ultimately pushing her further ahead of the girl on her toes. The solid feel of the wall cued her and she ripped her goggles off to find her teammates yelling and hollering about first place. She made brief eye contact with the second place girl. She had beautiful exotic skin, caramel-colored and dark brown eyes that were narrowed in a glare. It was Emily and Paige's biggest personal rival in swimming: Shana Fring. Paige smirked back, pleased that she bested the other girl.

"Paige!"

Emily's voice brought her attention back to the team and Paige pulled herself out of the water and into their waiting arms. She wriggled through until she met Emily and they embraced. "You were so incredible!"

Paige blushed, "Only because you've helped me a lot! It's a bummer you couldn't swim…" They both looked at the Ace brace on Emily's wrist. A few more days, according to Pam and it could come off.

Liz joined the two of them and congratulated her daughter. Paige was surprised to see Samara there, but hugged her excitedly. The blond smiled and greeted Emily as well. The judges spoke over the intercom at the pool and announced the results. Paige was proud to hear the Rosewood Junior Sharks came in first place. Pam found them and together all five of them went to a local diner for a much deserved lunch. Paige couldn't think of a better way to almost end her summer.


	4. Chapter 4

"Paige! Are you dressed and ready? They're going to start arriving soon!"

Paige didn't bother replying to her mother. She was too busy trying to find the perfect outfit. The cool, October weather didn't allow for athletic shorts and a tank. Rummaging through her small selection of dresses, she disregarded them in lieu of her trusty dark-wash jeans and a Lion King t-shirt. Her slip-on Vans completed the outfit. Satisfied, she found Liz and Nick downstairs, making sure the house was ready.

The occasion? The last Saturday in October marked Paige's eighth birthday, which meant the McCullers house was _the_ place to be for kids between the ages of 7 and 8. Since Nick came up with the idea for the 7th year party – Chuck E. Cheese – Liz had decided on hosting it this year. Choosing a theme completely opposite and much more original than her husband, she looked up ideas for at-home science experiments.

The two-car garage was cleaned and mostly emptied out. There were a few, large party tables placed inside with an assortment of ingredients to combine for experiments. The cake was in the fridge, and the guests would be arriving any time.

Paige watched her parents dart around and fix already straightened pillows, picture frames, and chairs. Liz glanced at her daughter and frowned. "I thought you were going to wear a dress, Paige."

"I decided not to. No one else will be dressed up."

The doorbell rang, sending Liz into a barely concealed frenzy. Paige safely escaped any possibility of being cajoled to change. She glanced at the large grandfather clock in the hall. The little hand was at the three and the big hand had just reached twelve. There was only one person who could be so punctual. Paige hoped the other kids would arrive soon because even five minutes alone with Alison DiLaurentis was enough to make the brunette want to get another 3 bad grades on her math quizzes – and that hadn't gone well with the parents.

Alison was dressed beautifully. Her golden curls were bouncy and her floral dress flared slightly at the hem. Though she wore no makeup (Mrs. DiLaurentis hadn't introduced that yet to her daughter, thank god), Alison's thick lashes caused her baby blue eyes to pop. If forced, Paige would – very – reluctantly admit that her bully was gorgeous. But only if Emily or Pumbaa's lives were at stake.

The blond and her mother entered the house and paused to curtly greet Liz. Mrs. DiLaurentis sniffled as she glanced around the house before offering an excuse about how her well-to-do husband needed her, and departing. Alison was barely able to say goodbye before the woman clicked away in her heels.

Paige sighed as the blond approached, a small gift bag in her hand.

"Here, Paige. Happy birthday."

Paige barely resisted rolling her eyes. She took the gift, an eyebrow raised. It was probably the same thing as last year: a $10 dollar gift card to Target. It would be nice, if the closest Target wasn't a thirty minute drive away. With great effort, she thanked Alison through gritted teeth.

The blond considered her duty done with and cradled her hands elegantly in front of her. "So, what are we doing? Hopefully something better than your last party. That place was disgusting and so boring."

Paige rolled her eyes. "We're doing science experiments. And it's not my fault that you're scared to get dirty and have fun." Challenge set.

Alison lifted her chin and replied hotly, "We've got different ideas of fun, Paige. But, since it's your birthday, I'll play by your rules for today." Challenge accepted.

The stare-off was interrupted by the arrival of more kids. The only problem with inviting classmates was that people whom she didn't particularly care for tended to come. Well, it was more that she didn't care about any of them except for Emily. And honestly, they were only there to have cake and be wild and have fun. It's not like they were actually there because they cared if Paige enjoyed her birthday. And Paige had almost the exact same mindset when she was invited to the other kids' birthdays. Except she also saw it as more opportunities to hang out with Emily. In her now eight-year-old mind, it didn't matter that she had connected so strongly with someone or that they spent nearly every day together. So what if Alison had five friends? Or ten? She didn't have Emily Fields as her friend and in Paige's opinion that was horrible. But in a too-bad-so-sad way.

Mona Vanderwaal joined them and silently handed Paige her gift before talking exclusively to Alison. Paige wasn't sure what to think about Mona. The girl was a friend of Alison's, but she didn't actively bully others or flaunt her family's wealth. Instead, she rarely spoke to anyone who wasn't Alison and tended to (creepily) stare at others. Sean Ackard bounced up to Paige. He was a fun guy and a tough player in tag.

"Happy birthday Paige! Bet today's gonna be fun!" He handed her a wrapped box before greeting a couple other boys who just came in.

Paige had a pile of gifts in her arms that she desperately needed to dump somewhere. Moving to the living room, she placed them on the coffee table. Quite suddenly, she was jostled forward roughly. Whirling around, her scowl dissolved as she was tugged into a tight hug. "Paige! Super happy birthday to you!"

She grinned wickedly. Now the party could really start. "Thanks, Em! I'm so happy you're here. Alison is already being annoying. We're doing science experiments, my mom said." She looked around at the mass of kids. It seemed mostly everyone had arrived in the past ten minutes. She hadn't exactly been keeping track of what was going on around her though – too eager for her friend to join.

Emily scrunched her nose adorably, "Well, we can just ignore her like usual, right? Just work on making the biggest and bestest experiment!"

Paige nodded, albeit sheepishly. "I may have sorta kinda said she was scared to have fun and get dirty at my party today. So, we might not be able to ignore her…"

"Paigeeee," Emily groaned. Why her friend felt the need to egg on their bully was beyond her.

* * *

><p>Not all of Paige's classmates were able to make it to the party.<p>

Liz ushered all ten children into the garage and started explaining the process of how it all would go. Except Noel Kahn saw the bucket of goo and proceeded to ignore Liz and stick his hands right in it. Surprised by either the coldness or the sudden gooiness of the stuff, he jumped back, taking the lime goo with him and splattering it on nearby kids. The girls shrieked and the boys swarmed the bucket. It all went downhill from there. Kids scattered and moved about the room, picking up the various materials and strange things that were placed on the tables. It was like a cafeteria food fight, but with science stuff. And they weren't throwing it at others intentionally, though it was a serious side effect.

Liz looked on, shocked that she lost control of the children so quickly. One minute they were shifting in place somewhat listening to her, and the next: mass chaos. Nick placed a hand on her shoulder and said, "It's okay, honey. You did your best. All we can do is play supervisor. And make sure Paige is having fun."

As if on cue, Paige screamed as Caleb Rivers chased after her with his hands outstretched. It looked like something out of a cartoon show, except his hands were completely covered in green slime and feathers. Both were grinning like mad scientists – how appropriate.

In the middle of it all, Alison and Mona were sitting at the table, extremely focused on following the instructions printed to make gluep. Alison mixed the glue and water in a Tupperware container and immediately after, Mona added the pink food coloring and borax. However, the borax was supposed to be mixed with water separately, _then_ added to the glue-water mix. Alison yelled at her helper for a good minute before continuing with the experiment, muttering veiled threats under her breath – like hiding Mona's hairbrush or mixing all her nail polish colors together.

Luckily for Mona, the gluep successfully formed and Alison was sure she'd made a better experiment than Paige.

The birthday girl in question ran by with Emily hot on her heels. Both girls were running from Caleb and his new side-kick, Hanna Marin. The pair in pursuit had ransacked the food inside and was throwing gummy bears all other the place. Liz and Nick were going to think twice about hosting a party next time.

Caleb had the bears in one hand and used his other to brush his silly long hair out of the way. Paige took this opportunity to launch her own weapon at him: jumbo marshmallows. They were supposed to be used in an experiment where the kids try to make them sink, but this was way more fun – and useful too!

Two of the three marshmallows hit the boy while the last one somehow reached Alison and landed in the container of gluep. Yuck. Alison's shriek was the only thing Paige needed to hear before ducking behind a mass of kids who actually settled down and were working on changing a chrysanthemum's flower petal color with dye.

"Em! Come sit with me. We can blend in here and hide from Alison."

Emily joined Paige, but looked doubtful, "You're the birthday girl, Paige. I'm pretty sure you can't hide unless you're in a box or something… But I won't let you do that!" She saw the glint in her friend's eye.

Without adult help, all the kids managed to calm down and try the experiments. After fifteen minutes of going absolutely nuts of course. Liz and Nick walked around helping and offering hints.

Paige and Emily worked individually on the chrysanthemums. Paige made sure her white flower was in the middle of the plastic vase before adding several drops of blue food coloring to the water. Eagerly, she stared intently at the petals, waiting to see them change color. Two minutes passed with nothing to show. Deflated, she huffed. "Em, how long 'til the flower changes color?"

Liz was passing by and answered her daughter, "It could take up to a day, honey. Be patient and I'm sure it'll turn out beautifully."

Paige sighed again, thinking. She peered at Emily's little space and watched for a few seconds before deciding that sadly, patience was the way to go. Bored, she turned to chat with Caleb and Hanna who had also joined the table when Alison freaked. Paige liked both of them and considered them friends. The pair tended to stick together which prompted endless teasing and several rounds of "Caleb and Hanna sittin' in a tree…" Occasionally they would meet Paige and Emily for a playdate, but they were few and far between.

What really brought the four of them together was Alison. The blond had a penchant for teasing those not as perfect as she and three of them fit the bill. Alison tended to go after Caleb's shaggy mop of hair and adopted parents. Hanna was overweight, but no seven-year-old should be self-conscious about their figure at that age. Alison made sure Hanna was. Paige didn't know why Alison disliked _her_, but Alison picked on everything about her; from her bangs to her clothing style, her personality, and even her voice. In Paige's mind, there was absolutely no reason for Alison to bully Emily. Emily was pretty, smart, athletic, funny, kind, and overall a great person. So why bully her? Paige had a hunch it was because Emily wasn't Alison's friend. Admittedly, she felt a bit smug about it because she got the girl (though she wasn't thinking it like _that_).

Though Paige disliked Alison, she didn't go out of her way to get revenge. She would've liked to, but Emily wasn't the violent, revenge kind of person. She'd rather kill with kindness. So, Paige did her best to ignore the jabs and mean insults. Most of the other victims of Alison's bullying were too scared to do anything, so the blond got to run the grade at the young age of seven unhindered.

"Who are you guys gonna give your flowers to?"

Paige watched as the two failed horribly at discreetly looking at each other. Say no more. "That's cool. I'm giving mine to Ems, of course."

Hearing her name, Emily turned and join the conversation. "I'm making mine green 'coz it's Paige's favorite color."

Paige had expected as much, but her cheeks reddened all the same.

A half hour later, Paige and Emily were working on making quicksand using corn flour and water. They'd just succeeded, exchanging high-fives when Alison graced them with her presence. She looked down her perfect nose and placed her container of pink gluep beside the quicksand.

"My gluep beats your boring quicksand. Mine is like water, but hard too."

Emily beat Paige before she could open her mouth. "Funny, ours does the same. When you stir it fast, it gets all hard. But if you do it slowly, it's like water." Emily smirked, pleased that she could show Alison up and kind of stand up for Paige too. She poked the gluep and found that it indeed hardened when prodded. Shrugging, she looked at the blond, "Yours is cool and all, but this is made by the birthday girl, so it's the best."

Alison fumed, her cheeks reddened, and she even stomped her foot. Luckily, before she could chew the two girls out, Liz captured all the kids' attention with one very important word. "Who's ready to have some cake?"

Every kid, Alison included, screamed their approval. The garage lights went out and Nick entered slowly, a large vanilla cake in his grasp. Eight candles were lit and flickered as he made his way to Paige. He placed it before her and led them all in singing Happy Birthday.

Paige had a wide smile plastered on her face the whole time, laughing when Emily danced in her seat and added the "Cha-cha-cha's." When the song was over, Paige screwed her eyes shut and wished for the same thing as last year: that she and Emily would be best friends forever. Everyone clapped and then the cake cutting began. Liz took over while Nick scooped chocolate ice cream in paper bowls.

The garage was considerably quieter when each kid had his or her own slice of cake and serving of ice cream. There were second servings, but Liz had to firmly deny Noel of a third. Paige thought he was fat enough.

When everyone was sated and full, they migrated to the living room to open presents. Being spunky and loud and generally an average now-eight-year-old, Paige typically relished being the center of attention. Opening birthday presents was the only exception. She reasoned it was partly because she could almost feel the jealousy oozing from the other kids (even if it was just a five dollar gift card to Target), and the other part she couldn't figure out yet. She just knew that she wanted to get it over with quickly. She was also eager for the party to end. Having Emily in her home made her feel funny and she wanted everyone gone so it could just be the two of them and they could build another fort.

Ten minutes later, she unwrapped the last gift – a card from Emily that read, _You get your precent later!_ She smiled when Liz took a picture as she had been doing for the previous gifts. The room had mostly been quiet, but it came to life as the party came to a close. A few early parents were mingling off to the side, but as more arrived, the kids thanked Liz and Nick, wished Paige a happy birthday, and then left.

Hanna surprised her by pulling her into a tight hug and then bouncing out the door, Caleb not far behind. Noel was his usual mischievous self and had a glob of gluep in his hand when he asked for a high-five. Paige obliged reluctantly and they were both subject to the blue gunk when it splattered on them. He left before he could be admonished more, but her shrieks followed him out. Jerk. Alison and Mona simply thanked her before gliding out the door with Mrs. DiLaurentis. Spencer Hastings and Aria Montgomery offered a brief hug and Toby looked to the floor as he mumbled a "thank you."

Eventually it was just the McCullers, Emily, and Pam. The grown-ups chatted while the girls sat on Paige's bed. A wrapped box laid between them. Emily wrapped it, if the taped rips were any indication. Paige thought it was wrapped perfectly, rips or not. She picked it up and began carefully unwrapping it.

There were two items: a thread bracelet; and a face down picture frame. Paige examined the bracelet. It was clearly handmade. There was a fancy pattern, but the actual details were skewed slightly and the bracelet itself wasn't straight; it slanted gradually to the left, probably because Emily was left-handed. What Paige loved about it were the colors. She counted six total, three different shades of green and three of blue. Their favorite colors combined. Paige put it on, but much to Emily's embarrassment and distress, the bracelet was huge and didn't stay on her wrist at all.

"It's okay, Em. When I get older, it'll fit! For now," she stood and put it in her shoebox. "It'll stay in there safe 'til I get bigger! Thanks so much!" She tackled her friend in a hug.

"Look at the other thing!"

Paige needed no more encouragement. Sitting back, she lifted the frame up and out of the box. Flipping it over to look at the picture, she gasped. Instead of a picture, it was a drawing on regular printer paper. It was a copy of the picture on Paige's side table – the swing set photo. Wide-eyed, she looked at Emily for an explanation.

"I know it's your favorite, and I like to draw, so I drew that… Do you like it?"

"You draw? I had no idea! I love it so much! Ems, you're like, amazing!" Granted, anything made by Emily would be amazing in Paige's eyes, but still. For a seven-year-old, Emily was talented. It was in colored pencil, and the colors were rather basic, with lots of mixing, but the lines and actual drawing were superb.

Emily visibly relaxed, pleased that her gifts were so well received. Both girls had discovered how much more meaningful homemade gifts were and when able, they would give each other something they made.

Paige placed the drawing on her dresser front and center. Then, she pulled Emily into another hug, unconsciously inhaling her apple-cinnamon scent. She couldn't be any happier.

* * *

><p>When Pam called Emily down, Paige darted to her mother's office and grabbed a sheet of paper and a blue pen. She stuck her tongue out as she scribbled quickly before joining the others at the front door. She handed Pam a folded piece of paper when Emily went to the living room to grab her sweater. Paige had an especially hard time saying good-bye to Emily even though she knew she'd see her at school on Monday.<p>

When the Fields' arrived home, Pam delivered the letter to her daughter.

When Emily was positive her mom wasn't going to disturb her, she carefully opened the paper and laughed out loud. She traced the lines with her finger and decided that Paige should never be an artist. She looked at the stick figures with tufts of hair and names messily labeled below. The figures were holding hands and Paige's scrawl titled it _Bestest Friends Forever & Ever & Ever_. There was a heart between them too. Emily smiled fondly. She folded the artwork and placed it in her shoebox.


	5. Chapter 5

Paige heaved yet another sigh. She was completely and utterly bored. Technically, she had something to do – was doing it currently. But once she realized she had read the same sentence three times already, she threw the book down. Stupid summer reading. Liz had put her on a reading schedule of a chapter a day, rain or shine, Emily or not, busy or not. Paige needed to read the remaining two pages of _The BFG_ by Roald Dahl before she could go to bed. It was nearly eight o'clock. She shifted on the couch until she was hanging upside down, her heels firmly dug into the cushions. She could hear Liz washing dishes in the kitchen from their late dinner and had no doubt Nick was in the same room, reading. Her parents were disgustingly sweet and attached and loving and romantic like that.

There was a knock on the front door. Several more immediately followed. They were loud and aggressive. Someone clearly wanted to get in.

Paige bolted upright and watched as her father strode to the door. She could tell by the way his eyebrows furrowed and his walk was slow and cautious that things might get scary. It could be an angry co-worker wanting to punch Nick. That had happened once, and ever since, Paige was wary of both Nick's colleagues and him going to work. The guy, Michael Rhodes had been working towards the promotion to business operations manager, but Nick beat him. Their boss had told Michael that he hadn't even been considered, that Nick had it from the start. Ouch.

Paige watched as he opened the door minutely and peered out, but then quickly opened it fully, exclaiming, "Emily! What are you doing here?"

The girl stumbled in, her body shaking. Paige could tell she was barely keeping it together. Emily's bottom lip was firmly griped between her teeth, and tears were brimming in her eyes. Paige jumped up and led them both upstairs and onto her bed, not letting her parents question Emily at all. Besides, Liz would be on the phone with Pam right now.

Rosewood's weather in the summer was rather ideal. The days weren't sweltering, and the nights were cool. Emily was wearing one of Paige's hoodies, but she was still shivering. And on the verge of tears. They didn't live too far from each other; less than a five minute drive. But it was a long walk for an eight-year-old, especially at night.

Paige drew her into her arms, both worried and scared. Worried because her best friend was in tears for some unknown reason. Emily rarely cried. She might let a few tears slide down, but she never sobbed the way she was now. Which was why Paige was frightened, along with the possibility that something horrible must have happened for Emily to be crying. She was almost too scared to ask. But ask she did.

"Em. Talk to me, please. What happened?"

Emily tried to speak, but to no avail. They simply waited for the sobs to subside. It took five minutes, but eventually they were reduced to hiccups. Paige felt the wet spots on her shirt from the tears when Emily lifted her head. Emily's normally bright, brown eyes were red, and her bottom lip was trapped again by her teeth.

Paige moved to lean against her pillows and Emily followed, curling up beside her and resting her head in Paige's lap. They were both quiet for a long time. Paige listened to the muffled voices of her parents and Emily closed her eyes, exhausted from crying. Several minutes passed before Emily spoke, her voice soft and timid.

"My daddy has to leave for his job. We were eating dinner when he said he has to go to Afgenstan. Mommy didn't say anything, just stood up and left the table. Daddy talked with me and told me not to worry and to be good and to watch over my mom." She fell quiet, lost in the memory and her thoughts.

Paige digested the news, brows furrowed. "So, the army needs him to go to Afensten, so he just goes? How long? And are you going with him?" She desperately hoped not.

Emily's grip on Paige's shirt tightened and she shrugged. "He doesn't know. And no. Mommy and I are staying here. But they started talking and then arguing and she was crying. I was sad and scared, so I came over here."

Paige untangled herself to pick some pajamas for them both, frowning at Emily's whine of protest. There was a knock on the door and Liz came in. "I just wanted to check in on you girls. Emily, I spoke with you mom. She was really worried when she realized you weren't home. She said you could stay the night here."

"Thanks," Emily whispered, wringing her hands. She kept her eyes trained on her knight in shining armor.

"Promise me you won't do that again. You're like a second daughter to me, and I'd be worried too."

Emily nodded, and accepted the shorts and tank. Too tired to care, she stripped shamelessly there and then crawled under the sheets. Paige caught her mom's eye and blew a kiss. The door closed and Paige joined Emily. Normally, the girls would lay side by side, occasionally with a finger brushing together. Tonight, Emily was vulnerable and scared, and she had no qualms with snuggling up to Paige, who fit the job as big spoon perfectly.

"Emily? I'm here, and I'm not going anywhere." There really wasn't much more she could say. So, she tightened her grip on Emily's waist and let sleep take her.

With those words ringing in her ears, Emily smiled and managed to forget her issues for a few minutes – all the time needed to drift to sleep.

* * *

><p>Paige pressed down on the cheap stopwatch as Emily dove into the pool. They were in the McCullers' back yard, making use of the in-ground pool installed late last summer. The contractors were hired for a high-priority job and had to postpone the pool. As it turned out, the DiLaurentis family had hired the builders to install a brand new, top of the line patio. Nick had been furious when he found out the reason and demanded a discount on their pool job.<p>

Over the past year, both girls had improved in their swimming. For Emily, moving in the water came as naturally to her as walking on land. Paige watched enviously as her friend almost managed a perfect flip turn. She was so proud of her friend. Paige was nearly as good as Emily, but she had to work hard to keep up. She was determined to stick with her, so she always gave swimming her full efforts.

When Emily's hand hit the wall, Paige stopped the timer. "1 minute and 50 seconds!" That was a good time. Above average for a girl their age, but not the fastest. She knew from the glint in Emily's eyes that she'd want to go again. Paige nodded and sat on the edge.

Emily climbed out and prepared to dive in. Paige gave the signal and started the clock. She did this two more times before Emily stopped, gasping for breath. "Your turn, Paige."

Paige left the stopwatch by Emily and dove into the pool. She needed to warm up a little – just a couple easy laps – before she could be timed. She practiced her own flip turns, but they weren't nearly as smooth as Emily's. Paige tended to wobble and her body angle to the side. She was practicing though, and knew she'd nail the turn eventually. Besides, it was a pretty advanced move for them. She only did it because of her friend.

When she finished her practice laps, she pulled herself out of the water and motioned to Emily that she was ready. At the signal, Paige dove again into the pool. She kept her arms outstretched and straight before kicking into motion. Legs moving and arms cutting the water, she propelled towards the wall. She kept her breathing rhythm steady, a breath for every three strokes. Seeing the wall looming closer, she tensed, preparing for the turn. A couple feet from the wall, she flipped. She floundered a bit under the water and had to correct herself. Pushing off the wall, she returned to her steady pace, hoping she would beat her own personal record. Her arms were aching a bit, her heart pounding loudly in her ears, but still she increased her speed. Before she knew it, she slapped the wall and tore off her goggles.

"1 minute and 52 seconds! Paige, you shaved off 2 seconds of your PR!" Emily crowed, giving her friend a high-five.

Paige grinned, extremely pleased with herself. She wiggled her fingers, indicating she wanted to go again.

* * *

><p>Her third grade teacher was writing on the whiteboard, so Paige took the opportunity to lean back in her chair and try to catch Emily's eye. Mrs. McGhee was the worst teacher ever, they both had decided. She was strict and had a non-nonsense air about her which spelled trouble for the girls. The woman already discovered the closeness between them and watched them like a hawk.<p>

Mission accomplished, Paige mouthed, "I'm so bored."

Over the past two years, they had nearly perfected the art of lip-reading. Since the first grading period of first grade, Paige and Emily had been seated next to each other only once more. Though they had seen several movies of people passing notes in class, they didn't want to pass the note to another classmate. It was for their eyes only. So, they became adept at reading lips.

"Me too. I want it to be Friday."

Suddenly, blond hair blocked the way and Paige found herself looking at Alison's smirking face. Scowling, she mouthed, "Go away, no one likes you fathead."

Unsurprisingly, Alison didn't know what she said. The blond rolled her eyes haughtily and faced forward. The desks weren't in clusters but in a grid layout. How boring. Emily was back and Paige grinned, mouthing what she had said to Alison and the confused reaction. Emily giggled softly, prompting Mrs. McGhee to turn and pierce the students with her glare.

Paige rolled her eyes and huffed. They were learning how to multiply and divide. The teacher kept saying how it was just like addition and subtraction, but the girl failed to see the relation. Paige returned to her work, catching up on the problem she missed.

_2*3=?_

Looking at the whiteboard, she copied: _2+2+2=6._ Idly, she counted the 2's, and a thought popped into her head. Add 2, three times. Sitting straight up in her chair, her mouth formed an o. It all made sense! When Mrs. McGhee wrote _2*5_, Paige translated it to add 2, five times. Thrilled at her realization, she leaned back, patiently waiting for Emily. "I get multiplying now! It's like adding the num-"

"Miss McCullers and Miss Fields? Do you have something you'd like to share?"

Uh-oh. Paige whipped around, eyes wide and replied, "No, Mrs. McGhee."

The red-head stared them both down, before placing the dry-erase marker down. She strode to her desk in the back corner of the room and scribbled on two separate sheets of paper. Both ended with a severe sounding scrawl of her signature. She stalked to Emily and handed her a note and repeated the same for Paige. "Please give this to your parents and bring it to class tomorrow." Satisfied that she had every student's utmost attention, Mrs. McGhee returned to the whiteboard and resumed teaching.

Paige stared at the note for a minute, barely even comprehending the words. Finally, she read it.

_Dear Mr. and Mrs. McCullers,_

_ It has come to my attention that Paige seems to struggle with paying attention while I am teaching. She is a bright girl and full of potential. However, it seems that she has more interest in talking and playing with her friend, Miss Emily Fields. This is the third time this year I've caught them talking. I wanted to bring this to your attention, and hope that Paige will start focusing more in class. I ask for one of your signatures at the bottom of this letter._

_ Sincerely,_

_ Carrie McGhee_

Paige's stomach flopped and landed somewhere in her throat. Her parents were going to ground her for sure! Despite just being chastised, she turned discreetly to look at Emily, to see how she was faring. The tan girl wasn't much better. She was clutching the note tightly, the edges crinkling. Paige withdrew and sank in her seat, unable to think about anything other than the impending doom.

The day passed sluggishly after that. Two hours later, Samara picked both girls up. Paige tried again to talk with Emily, but was met with a glare and stony silence. It was obvious that Emily blamed her for getting in trouble. The nineteen-year old blond filled the silence with chatter about her college classes, to which Paige offered meek replies.

The girl was glad that Samara was still able to pick her up. Samara went to a nearby college only thirty minutes away from Rosewood. She insisted on continuing helping the McCullers and the Fields out. She was a broke college kid, after all.

They pulled up to Emily's house first, and she got out without a word. Samara peered at her remaining protégé in the rear-view mirror and asked quietly, "What's up, Paige?"

Paige sighed and replayed The Incident. Samara was cool and Paige had no issues telling her anything and everything. She was so nice too. She sympathized with Paige, and offered some advice on how to handle her parents, as well as how to apologize best to Emily. Samara may not know Emily as well as Paige, but she did see things that both girls were oblivious to. Sometimes being the bystander had its perks.

Soon, they were parked outside the McCullers. Samara turned off the engine and shifted in her seat. "So, you got a plan for your parents and Emily?"

Paige nodded. "I might need your help for Emily though… Could you drive me over later?"

The blond smirked and nodded before urging the girl out and driving away.

Paige took a deep breath and opened the door. "Mom, I'm home!" She remembered Liz saying she would be home early today. Perfect.

The woman yelled from upstairs. Paige went up, note in her hand. She stood in the doorway to her parents' bedroom, watching her mother read in the bed for a few seconds. "Mom? Can I talk to you?"

Liz removed her glasses and placed her book down. "Sure, honey. Come on up." She patted the space next to her.

Paige shuffled closer and climbed up. "Something happened in class today, and I hope you won't be mad." She had Liz's full attention now.

"I got in trouble." She said it quickly, ripping the band-aide off. "Mrs. McGhee gave me a note that you have to sign. Emily and I were… talking in class today and Mrs. McGhee caught us. I'm sorry, Mommy. Please don't be mad." Paige cast her eyes down, every bit the guilty and apologetic child.

Liz studied her daughter wordlessly, and gently took the letter and read it.

Paige watched, hoping to gain some hint on her mother's thoughts. It wasn't hard; Liz always wore her feelings on her face. Or something like that. Paige watched as Liz's mouth turned from a neutral line down to a frown and her eyebrows came together.

Finally, Liz put the paper down and rubbed at her temples. "Paige, honey. I'm not mad at you. I am, however, disappointed and worried. It disappoints me to hear that you're not focusing in class and that you're talking with Emily. I know – and Mrs. McGhee knows – how smart and amazing you are. But you aren't doing smart things, and you're not paying attention. That's what disappoints me. I'm worried because you're always with Emily." She cut off Paige's attempt to protest. "I love Emily like a second daughter. What worries me is that you don't make any attempt to play with any other kids. What about Hanna and Caleb? You talk about them sometimes. I just want you to branch out. It doesn't mean that Emily's not your best friend or that you won't see her. Do you understand what I'm saying, Paige?"

Paige nodded mutely. She definitely understood her mother. But did she agree with her? No way.

"How about this, honey. I promise I'm not mad, and I'll even tell your father and make sure he understands what happened. You just have to promise to play with other kids too. Okay?"

Paige sighed, nodding. It was way better than getting grounded. "I promise, Mommy."

They embraced and when they parted, Paige murmured, "Emily's mad at me because I got us in trouble… I want to go and say sorry. Can I?"

Liz checked her watch, "I'll get my thin-"

"Actually, Samara said she can drive me. She gave me some help on it. Here's what I was thinking…"

Forty-five minutes later, Samara's red Honda Civic pulled outside the McCuller's house. Paige hopped in and when prompted, told her how it went with Liz.

"I always knew your mom was cool. I like the outfit. You got everything ready?"

Paige assessed her clothes and nodded. "Thanks again for driving me."

The drive was quick and quiet. Once at the Fields' residence, Paige jumped out. Samara was going to wait and drive her back home.

The girl rang the doorbell, her prop in one hand, an envelope in another. Pam answered, not particularly surprised to see her. But her eyebrows rose when she looked Paige up and down. "Emily's upstairs." She'd save the chat with Paige for later.

Paige scurried up the stairs and took a breath before tapping with one finger on the door in a tune that both girls came up with. "Go away, Paige."

Unperturbed, she opened the door and as soon as Emily scrambled to her feet, Paige knelt down on one knee, head down. "Princess Emily, I ask that you accept and read this letter. It's very, very important." She extended the envelope.

The floor was carpet, so Emily's slow approach was quiet. She took it and opened the letter, reading it aloud. "'Dear Princess Emily. It is with the mostest, sincerest, bestest, seriousest apology that I say I'm sorry. Sorry for getting us in trouble and sorry for making you mad at me. My tummy was turning all over ever since you stopped talking to me. I promise to never get you in trouble again, cross my heart and hope to die. I hope you will say yes to forgiving me and we can be best friends again. I'll slay 100 dragons and bullies for you. Love, Paige your Knight in Shining Armor.'"

Emily looked at Paige, dressed somewhat as a knight. She had a hat made of newspaper and a paper towel sword. Her clothes were all black, and she even had war paint on her cheeks.

Paige waited impatiently to hear whether Emily would forgive her or not. She got her answer when she was bowled over by the girl. Emily had tackled her in an almost tearful hug. Paige could see her friend biting her lip to keep them at bay.

"Yes! I forgive you! Paige, I'm sorry for being mad at you. I don't ever want to fight with you again! It's the worst. My tummy was rumbling too, and not in the hungry way."

Paige could have cried with relief. She offered up her pinky. "I pinky promise to always be your best friend. No matter what."

Emily hooked her pinky around Paige's. Promise sealed and locked.


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N**: Just wanted to pop in and let ya'll know I appreciate the favs/follows/reviews on my story. You guys are very kind. I'm super excited, and just want to skip ahead to the juicy stuff. Alas, there's a reason the saying "patience is a virtue" has been around for so long. It's seriously gonna be worth it, I think. About 3 more grades (so maybe 6ish more chapters) things will start to pick up and be more interesting, since our ladies will start to mature-ish. Life got busy with classes, work, writer's block, and a new crush, lol. And to address the guest who commented "UPDATEEEE," I direct you (and anyone else with similar thinking) to the 13th sentence in the **A/N** I posted in the first chapter. As always, snaps to my frand 5ever on here. Here ya guys go!

* * *

><p>As Paige opened the front door, a blast of cold wind swept in.<p>

"Hey, Paige! Are you ready?"

She looked up into Samara's pretty blue eyes and nodded eagerly. They both clambered into her car and set off to the only diner in Rosewood. It was a few days before Christmas and Samara had suggested the two of them go out to eat and spend some time together before she left for a trip with some college buddies.

"So, how's school?" Samara asked as she opened the diner door and led them to a seat.

"It's winter break and you ask about _school_?" Paige wrinkled her nose and paused dramatically before actually answering, "The last day of school stunk. We had to take a big math test, and I'm not sure I did so good. Multiplying is easy peasy, but dividing? Em's so good at it, and I'm just over here like help!" She waved her hands around.

"If you ever need any help," Samara offered. She was going to say more, but the waitress came to take their drink order.

"Hot tea, please."

"Hot chocolate! With marshmallows!"

When the waitress walked away, Paige mimed lifting a tea cup, her pinky out. "I'm Samara, and I drink tea."

The blond laughed, smacking the girl's arm lightly. "You've been watching too many movies. And your British accent is horrible!"

Paige grinned. "So, do you have a boyfriend in college?"

Samara chuckled, "No way, boys have cooties, remember? You've got your cootie shot, right?"

The girl gasped, eyes wide and totally falling for it. "That's a thing? No wonder Hanna's always hanging with Caleb. She must have gotten his cooties!"

Samara leaned over and grabbed Paige's arm. "Okay, do you have the cootie shot? No? I'll give it to you right now! You can only get it from someone who has the cootie shot too." She then proceeded to administer the shot. She drew a couple shapes, "Circle, circle, dot, dot. Now you have the cootie shot!"

Paige took her arm back and looked at it, suddenly skeptical. "Really? That's it?"

The waitress brought their drinks and took their food orders.

"I'll have the turkey club on wheat, toasted without onions, please."

Paige looked at the menu for a few seconds before slapping her finger down on a random item. "I'll have the… broccoli and green bean cheddar soup…. Yuck." She covered her mouth, mumbling a sincere apology for insulting the food. She liked to pride herself on her impeccable manners and charming personality. Complaining about food was not being nice. Luckily, Samara saved her.

"You're so silly. I'm paying, even though I'm a broke college kid, so pick something that you'll actually eat."

She discarded the menu and ordered a small salad and half a Panini. Being the only diner in Rosewood, it was a popular place for casual meetings. She almost always ordered the same thing. Healthy, with a little variety. Except, if Emily was there, she would have dared Paige to order the grossest thing and eat it. She needed to remember to pretend she loved the broccoli and green bean soup next time. The waitress shrugged and left.

"Got any big plans for the rest of Christmas break, Paige? Shredding the snow-gnar, skydiving into a pile of snow, going out of town, or maybe looking for the abominable snow man?"

Paige giggled. Samara was the perfect combination of beautiful, kind, and goofy. Kinda like Emily. Actually, almost exactly. If the blond were their age, Paige was positive they'd be the three musketeers. Being the dynamic duo was pretty great, with Samara the super cool side-kick babysitter, so…

"We're gonna stay here. My mom's sister Nicole and Uncle Conner are coming to visit the day after Christmas. They live in California! I went last year, and it was so pretty and warm. Emily and her family are gonna come over Christmas day so we can do gifts and stuff. But I know she and I will hang out before that. She's coming over tomorrow, actually. Did you know: it's supposed to snow on Christmas!"

Samara nodded, "Yeah, I was watching the weather this morning." She laughed when Paige scrunched her nose at that. "Hey, I'm an adult, so I gotta do adult things! Watching the news and weather is one of them. So is having a job."

"I don't wanna grow up at all then! That's so boring."

Their food came and put a halt on the conversation. Paige drizzled Italian dressing over her salad and started aggressively stabbing it, knowing it would make Samara laugh.

"Easy there, tiger! Those spinach leaves did nothing to deserve that. Pretend you're the Queen of England and every time you sit down to eat, you get recorded and all your English minions turn on their TV to watch you. You don't want to look like a barbarian just stuffing your face, do you? You need to be classy, as a Queen should be. Take small bites, stab less, and chew more. Like this." She proceeded to take a bite out of her sandwich while looking elegant and model-esque. Paige was impressed.

Taking more care with her eating manners, Paige quickly moved onto the Panini. Ham, Swiss cheese, mayonnaise, lettuce and tomato. Yum. She began counting in her head how long it would take Samara to notice that she was copying her, bite for bite and drink for drink. She was up to fifteen when the blond quirked her eyebrow and swallowed her mouthful. "Yes, copycat?" It didn't help that Paige had been on the verge of giggling after every chew.

"Yes, copycat?" she parroted.

Samara rolled her eyes and finished her sandwich off. "I'm silly."

"I'm silly."  
>"I'm a dork."<p>

"I'm a do- Hey!"

Samara laughed. "You can't outsmart the master! Are you done?"

Paige nodded. The waitress came with the check, and they drove back to the McCullers'. On the way, Samara went fishing. "So, any cute boys for _you_ at school?" She watched the girl's face carefully in the rearview mirror.

As predicted, Paige's nose wrinkled and she very eloquently pretended to throw up and die. She could be an actress with those skills. Boys were so gross! They had cooties! Samara had said as much during lunch. "No! Yuck. They're stinky, mean, dumb, and gross." More gagging ensued.

Samara's laugh filled the car. "So just sticking with your girlfriends right now, huh?" Yeah, she was a sneaky devil.

Paige took a moment to answer; the wording confused her. "A girlfriend is a girl who's dating a boy, right? I'm a girl, so I couldn't have a girlfriend."

"A girlfriend could be lots of things. It could mean a friend of yours, who is a girl, or it could be like you said: a girl that a boy's dating. It could be-"

"Okay, then yeah, I'm just sticking with my girlfriends. Girls who are my friends," Paige confirmed happily, pleased that Samara had cleared it up. "Girls are so much better, they're not smelly, they're nicer – except for Alison – and they're fun! Boys drool and girls rule. Oh! Girls go to college to get more knowledge and boys go to Jupiter to get more stupider." She laughed at her own cleverness.

She didn't hear Samara muttering under her breath, completely agreeing with everything she'd just said.

They arrived at the house and went inside. They both had little gifts for each other. Liz shouted "Hello!" from the dining room as they went upstairs to Paige's room. She dug around in her closet and pulled out a very small gift bag, handing it to the blond. "You first!"

Samara settled on the bed and reached in, laughing a bit as well. "Oh, Paige! It's so awesome! Did you make it?"

The girl nodded. She'd made a simple keychain for her favorite – and only – babysitter. It was beaded, with various colors. The beads were small cubes, with letters on each side. Paige, being so artistic and creative, decided to arrange the colors in the order of the rainbow. The beads spelt out "_S-A-M-A-R-A_." There were very tiny black, circular beads that separated the letters. Paige was extremely proud of it. She beamed, "So, you like it?"

Samara immediately attached it to her car keys. "I love it! Thank you so much, Paigey!" She rooted in her purse and handed Paige a card.

The girl ripped it open rather aggressively, and read the written words first before looking at the two tickets tucked inside.

"They're for a circus that's coming to town in the spring. I thought you and I could go. They're supposed to be really great."

Paige dropped the card and tickets and launched herself at Samara. "You are the coolest and bestest second best friend ever!" Seriously though, a circus! Way cool. Grabbing the tickets, Paige bolted downstairs. "Mom! Guess what Samara got me for Christmas!"

Meanwhile, Samara chuckled to herself, collected her things, and stood to join them downstairs. She took a moment to survey the girl's room. There had been an increase in pictures strewn around, almost all of Paige and Emily. Some included Liz and Nick, even a couple of herself. Grinning knowingly, she walked downstairs.

Paige presented Liz with the tickets, who then proceeded to "ooh" and "ahh" at the idea. The young woman she'd hired had wormed her way into the family, and Liz couldn't be happier. Paige watched as her mother and Samara chatted briefly and hugged. She dutifully escorted the blond to the door and gave her a tight hug around the middle. Samara was pretty tall, and Paige was about a foot and a half shorter.

"Samara? Thanks so much for today. I had a lot of fun."

"Of course." She bent down to Paige's height and looked her in the eyes. "Hey, if you ever need someone to talk to besides Emily, I'm here, okay? You've got my cell number. I'm just a call away, even when I'm at college." She wrapped her arms around the girl.

"Merry Christmas, Paige. I hope you have a great day with the Fields."

* * *

><p>Paige was standing in her room by the window. Pumbaa watched her from his place on the neatly made bed. She fiddled with the hem of her deep red dress. It was Christmas day, and the Fields were coming to celebrate and exchange gifts. She could hear her parents downstairs and pictured her mother in an obnoxious red, green, and white sweater with black slacks. Nick was a bit better in khakis and a bright red polo.<p>

She snapped alert when Pam's Toyota 4Runner pulled into the driveway. Walking to her closet, she opened it and pushed some boxes out of the way. Underneath her shoebox laid a wrapped gift. Emily's gift. She picked it up and took it downstairs. Since it was a family day, the girls had decided not to exchange gifts alone upstairs.

"They're here!" she screamed at the top of her lungs. Satisfied that everyone within a half-mile radius was notified of the Fields' arrival (including the Fields themselves), she waited impatiently by the front door, ready to pounce and open the door. She heard a car door slam shut and she paced. A thought struck her and she ran to the pile of gifts under the tree and left Emily's there. On her way back to her post, Paige spotted her parents sharing a tender moment in the kitchen. Gross.

There was a knock on the door, around her height. Already smiling as she opened the door, she welcomed the Fields in. Snow blanketed the ground; the weatherman was true to his word. The cold followed the Fields in. Brr. Finally, Nick and Liz joined at the door and it was just one big hugfest. Paige dutifully hung up all three coats in the closet. Pam looked festive in her black dress and tacky Christmas cardigan. Wayne wore a similar outfit to Nick, except instead of a red polo, he had a green button-down with the sleeves half rolled up. Paige audibly gasped when she saw Emily. She had on a medium green dress with slightly ruffled sleeves. Her dark brown hair was sleek and long, held back by a red headband. Paige decided in that moment that no one was prettier than her best friend.

"Em! You look so pretty! I love the red," she reached out to touch the thin headband.

As expected, a very delicate blush spread on Emily's cheeks. It struck Paige suddenly how much she loved seeing that happen, especially when she caused it. Emily thanked her and they followed the adults into the dining room. The girls took all the gifts and placed them under the tree while Liz and Nick brought the food to the table.

Though the McCullers' weren't religious, they respected the Fields and blessed the food. It was a lively dinner, lots of chatter back and forth, and across other conversations. Both men sat at the ends of the tables while the wives sat adjacent. Paige and Emily were seated directly across from each other. At random intervals, they'd burst out laughing. When the adults weren't looking, Paige would chew exactly the opposite of how a Queen should: with her mouth open. The third time this happened, Liz caught her and, bolstered by two glasses of champagne, chastised her loudly. The conversations resumed quickly thereafter.

Though they were eating lunch, the meal was more like dinner, as was the drinking and overall celebrating. Nick broke out the (virgin) eggnog and the adults seemed to plateau at a very relaxed, happy state. Paige and Emily couldn't stop laughing when Pam started snorting when she laughed. Paige brought the dessert – homemade apple pie with vanilla ice cream – out and served them all. Then the stories started.

"This one time," Liz started laughing during her story. "Nick had called to tell me he'd be home late. Around seven o'clock in the evening, the doorbell rang. I was wearing a robe, with next to nothing underneath, and I opened the door. It was the delivery guy. He whistled and said, 'Hey sexy lady.' I was totally appalled and closed the door. He knocked, and I grabbed the pepper spray and opened the door. He threw up his hands when he saw it, and backed up real fast. Well, he slipped and fell down our steps. His hat fell off, and his mustache came off too! Guess who it was..."

Pam was in stiches, Wayne grinning like mad, and Nick had his head in his hands.

"It was Nick! He had dressed up at the delivery guy and tried to be all..." she glanced at the girls, who were luckily busy giggling to themselves, in their own world. "Sexy. It totally backfired on him. I helped him up and gave him ice for his butt. Then, he asked why I would answer the door wearing a robe. He slept on the couch that night!"

Wayne shared a story of when he was trying to ask Pam on a first date. "She kept saying that she couldn't go on a date with me, her father had a shotgun, and she had to focus on college. Now, we each had apartments off campus. I believed her when she said her father had a gun, but I didn't know that he lived nearby! I went over one night to ask her out again, when her neighbor yelled at me. He was a short, stocky guy. I thought he was a nosy fu-guy and told him to ah, piss off and mind his own business. But then he pulled a shotgun on me, and I realized it was her father. He lived next door to her! I had to wait until she graduated college – 1 more year – before I could ask her out. Her father remembered me very well, and still doesn't like me."

After the round of stories, Paige and Emily had gotten impatient to open the gifts. Rather than interrupt the adults and their obvious fun, the girls took their gifts for each other and went upstairs. Don't say they didn't wait.

Paige placed the wrapped gift box in front of her friend. The box was rectangular, the kind clothes are folded in. In fact, this particular box had come from Nordstrom's, when Liz had bought a new button-up for her work. Emily smiled at the penguins on the wrapping paper.

Not exactly being careful while unwrapping it, she flung the paper on the ground and opened the box. There was tissue paper. Different colors, and a lot of it. She rustled through it before tossing it on the floor too.

"No, wait! Your present's in there! It's just kinda small."

Emily froze, blushing. She leaned down and gingerly collected all the paper before going through it all again. Indeed, there was something! Something small. It was a bracelet. Beaded. The beads were various shades of blue ranging from baby blue to royal navy. Some beads were large and others tiny. Mostly rounded, but some were the bizarre three-pronged type. In the middle of the bracelet were five lettered ones which spelled out _Emily_. The bracelet itself was small, but when Emily went to put it on, the string was actually a stretchy type of cord. It fit perfectly on her wrist; not too tight and not too loose.

"Do you like it?" Paige's voice was shy. She'd spent a couple hours making sure it was perfect. She'd picked all the beads out and laid them in order.

"Yes! It's so awesome! Thanks, Paige! Now open yours."

Emily handed a small jewelry box from Claire's to Paige. Inside was a necklace with half a broken heart and a little charm that had been added. The heart said "_Friends_" and the charm was a tiny knight with a sword. Paige looked at it curiously, then to Emily, who fumbled with her necklace. She pulled out from her dress and leaned forward to show two charms. One was clearly the other half of the heart with "_Best_," and the other was a small tiara.

"They're friendship necklaces! When we put them together," she took Paige's and touched it to hers. "They spell '_Best Friends_!' And the knight is because that's what you are. You're my knight in shining armor! I've got a crown because I'm the princess." She stood up and curtsied low.

Paige followed suit but took one of Emily's hands and held it gently. Bowing, she kissed the hand and muttered, "Thank you so much, m'lady." Grinning, she picked up the necklace and gestured for Emily to put it on her. It fell a couple inches below her collarbone.

Turning, she wrapped her arms tightly around Emily and whispered in her ear, "Merry Christmas, Em."

* * *

><p>Later that night when Samara was laying in bed with her kinda-sorta-maybe girlfriend, she lifted her head off of the brunette's shoulder and giggled softly. When Carly asked what was funny, Samara replied, "The little girl I babysit gave me a keychain. There were beads on it that spelled my name. They were organized in a rainbow. I just think it's really funny, and she doesn't even know how true it is!"<p>

* * *

><p>When Liz and Nick asked Paige what her favorite gift she received was, she looked at their hopeful faces and replied, "The movies and new stuffed animal you guys gave me! And the puzzle Santa brought." Her fingers touched the necklace Emily gave her, and she knew what her favorite gift <em>really<em> was.

When Emily woke up the next day in her bed, she felt something hard pressing on her wrist. Inspecting it, she moved the bracelet and studied the indents the beads had made on her skin overnight. Moving it back in place, she smiled slightly at the feel of the beads fitting back into place. She didn't consider taking it off.


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N**: I did a little research on average swim times for the girls' ages, but I have no idea if the times I used are actually realistic so pardon any outrageous Olympic times. Also, because I'm a very visual person, I based two of the original characters in here on real-life actresses. For Nikki, picture Bonnie Wright. For Rachel, picture Margarita Levieva. And that's only physically. I didn't know of any good red-head actresses and Bonnie is one of my favorites, so that's why I chose her, if any of you were wondering. Also tried to show Paige's inner thoughts more. This will increase as she gets older because, well because that's what happens when you grow; you think more, and more deeply at that! All mistakes are my own, duh. Hope you all enjoy.

* * *

><p>It was the hottest summer in Rosewood yet which meant the highs were around eighty-seven degrees. Not exactly the sweltering hundreds that Texas had, but still. Paige and Emily were dressed similarly in jean shorts and a t-shirt; Paige's had a dolphin and Emily's was from a week-long sleepaway camp she had just gotten back from. It was early in the morning and they were sitting on the top step of the Fields' porch waiting for Samara. The blond had gotten the parents' permission to take the girls to a secret place. No matter how much they wheedled and begged, Pam and Liz refused to reveal the big surprise.<p>

Paige stood and wandered to a clump of clover. She crouched down and started searching for a four-leaf one while Emily bounced her leg, listing off possible places they were going. Samara had only told them to wear a bathing suit under their clothes – "and make sure it's a one-piece!" At nine years old, it was a little ridiculous for them to even own bikinis, but they did. Of course, Alison DiLaurentis had been wearing them since she first started wearing bathing suits; she'd never worn a one-piece and nearly fainted when Paige offered to give her one of hers.

"Maybe the beach! We aren't exactly close to one. The closest one is _so_ far away. Oh-! Maybe we're going to a water park! That would be so fun!"

Paige hummed, glancing at Emily briefly, who had since stood up and was leaning over the railing. "It's so hard to find a four-leaf clover, Paige. I can never find one. You're like, a pro at it."

Paige smirked discreetly. She prided herself on her skill at four-leaf clover picking, though she would never rub it in Emily's face. "That's 'cause you're too impatient to look!"

"I get bored, sue me."

That was new. Emily must've picked that up from her mother since Pam worked with the police department. Or maybe Liz, being a lawyer and all that. Her fingers combed the clover petals and froze moments later when she spotted a lucky one. "Gotcha!" she muttered under her breath. She held it gingerly in her hand behind her back, grateful when Samara showed up shortly after.

The girls tackled her in a big hug; she'd gotten back from her second year of college a few weeks ago and they hadn't seen her really since. Well, there was the small birthday party for Samara's twentieth, but that was back in May. It was June now and really, a month seemed like ages to Paige and Emily.

"Hey guys! Hop in the car; we've got kind of a long drive ahead of us."

Emily claimed the middle seat in the back, leaving Paige one of the sides. Before getting into the car though, Paige opened the passenger door and rummaged in the glove box. She found what she was looking for – a small cardboard box that previously held a necklace – and placed the four-leaf clover in it. There was a handful of others inside, most of them wilted and shriveled. She returned the box back in the glove compartment and joined Emily in the back, who turned to smile at Paige.

When Emily had seen her friend go for the box, she'd turned her head away. The first time Paige opened it, she'd admonished Emily for watching her – "It's a secret! You can't ever look, okay?" That was several months ago, and if Emily was with Paige, she always looked away. She might've accidently gotten a peek the third time, but she respected her friend and obeyed the request.

"So, do you guys have any ideas where I'm taking you?"

Paige watched Emily rattle off her thoughts, momentarily entranced by her beauty. Okay, sure they were only nine, but still, Emily had a natural beauty that just begged to be admired. Her eyelashes were long and thick, much like her hair. Her smile was the most stunning part, in Paige's opinion. It had been absent for a couple weeks during the beginning of summer; Wayne had finally received the official letter of transfer overseas. He left a few days after. Thankfully, he wouldn't be on the frontlines in Afghanistan. He would be in charge of a primary base camp though. "Very important stuff," he'd explained. The best news was that he'd be able to come home for Christmas and a few weeks in the summer every year. It was unknown how long he'd be on duty, but honestly, Paige was just glad the family wasn't uprooting and moving – Emily had told her that happened when she was a baby.

This was the first time he had been assigned overseas since Emily was born and she had a very hard time coping with it. She rarely left Pam's side. Paige had learned a lot during those weeks. For example, it was best just to hold Emily when she cried and hum random tunes, rather than try and reassure her. Also, she was afraid to be left alone and became very clingy. Having a Disney movie on helped her fall asleep, especially "The Aristocats." The most important thing Paige learned was that even after several days of crying, Emily was still the prettiest girl ever.

She was brought out of her musings when prompted to give her ideas. "Definitely the zoo. And we're going to swim with the dolphins and seals." She might've slipped in some sass, but hey, she was in a fabulous mood.

Samara wasn't kidding when she said the drive would be long. It took them two hours to reach their destination. They passed the time by playing ISPY, 20 questions, the alphabet game, and singing along with Samara's iPod. They also stopped at Chick-Fil-A for lunch. Emily was belting out the second verse to "Barbie Girl" when Paige shook her roughly and pointed out the window. "Penn State Unvursety," she read off the large sign they passed. "Is that your college, Samara?"

"University. And no, I go to UPenn. But I have some really good friends who go here. We're not going on the campus though."

A few minutes later, they were stepping out of the car and onto the pavement of a parking lot. Paige looked around at the large, fancy building in front of them, the golf course on the left, and the tennis courts on the right. "Where are we?" Emily voiced Paige's thoughts exactly.

Samara led them up the stairs and into the building. "This is the University Park Country Club." She pulled her phone out and typed out a text.

She waved at the receptionist who simply nodded, looking hawkishly at the two girls. Emily shuffled closer to Paige, "She's scary. Like the old witch from Hansel and Gretel!"

They left the lobby and went through a pair of double doors leading outside. Immediately, the sounds of splash and whistles greeted them. Paige and Emily looked at each other excitedly. Samara took their hands and walked down the ramp and towards the entrance of the pool area. A nerdy college guy with braces and terrible acne was manning the post and held up his hand. "Sorry, no open shows for a few weeks. It's a closed practice right now."

"Oh, that's okay. I'm here to see Nikki Reynolds. I'm her… best friend."

His nametag said "John." John shook his head apologetically, "You can't go in. They're really strict about that stuff. Come back when it's open showing."

Paige looked between the pair apprehensively. Samara seemed pretty confident they could be there, but this John dude was totally hashing their vibe. Or something like that. Charlie the surfer from Disney Channel had said that once.

"Look, I didn't drive two hours to get here just to get swim-blocked by a thirteen year old boy who just started going through puberty," she muttered viciously, quietly for just the two of them. "Let me through, _please._ I swear that I'm allowed in."

Paige took a step back and took Emily with her. John's face had a disturbingly red hue to it and he had stood up behind the desk. He was short for a guy, matching Samara's height and she was moderately tall for a girl. He picked up a phone and punched a few digits, all while maintaining a death glare at Samara. "Hello, Jerry? There's a lady here that's trying to get into the closed practice. She's got two kids. Can you please escort them off the premise?"

As soon as he hung up the phone, an attractive redhead walked over, dressed in grey joggers and a crop top. She had a bathing suit on underneath. "Samara!"

Paige was immediately fascinated by her, not only because of her hair, but also her accent: it was British! She watched Samara and the girl embrace tightly. They leaned towards each other, talking very quietly before stepping apart. "Paige, Emily. This is Nikki Reynolds, my best friend. She's on the Penn State varsity swimming team. It's basically the best you can get, not including the Olympics."

The two girls looked at Nikki with wide eyes.

Nikki laughed easily and shoved Samara. "She's totally exaggerating about the Olympics part. I am on the team though. And she's told me a lot about you two. You guys swim for your local team, right?" She leaned down and smiled. "She said you're pretty good, too. Is that true?"

Paige was tickled to see Emily blushing and nodded proudly, "Yes, we're both on the Junior Rosewood Sharks club team and Emily's awesome!"

Nikki grinned, "Well! That settles it then. You'll just have to come watch my team practice! We're almost done, but how about you both show me and a special friend of mine what you know so far!" She beckoned them forward and smiled sweetly at John. "They're with me, kay?"

Paige covered her giggles as they walked past. John was beet red, but slumped in his chair staring dreamily at Nikki. Samara snapped her fingers in front of his face and smirked when he jumped. "I told you so," she crowed.

The group entered the pool area and paused to take everything in, but it was difficult. Paige didn't know where to look. There were women swimming laps, talking and laughing in groups at tables, doing push-ups and sit-ups on yoga mats, and looking at workout ideas. Whistles were blown intermittently and swimmers dove into the pool constantly.

"Nik, if this is you guys almost done, then I definitely wanna see you when you're in the middle of practice!" Samara nudged the redhead.

"Babe, I don't think you could handle all this," she replied cheekily, flexing her biceps which were rather impressive.

Paige sat next to Emily on the bleachers and watched the women in the water. "They're really good, yeah?"

Emily stared as one swimmer executed a perfect flip-turn off the wall. "Good? They're amazing! I wanna be as great as them!"

Paige looked at her friend and murmured, "Ems, I know that you will be. I know that you're going to be better than them."

Emily turned and quirked her lips. Suddenly, she gasped and clutched Paige's forearm. "Oh my god. Paige. Look who it is!" Paige whirled around and saw a tan woman in a bathing suit talking with Nikki and Samara. She had wild, honey-blond curls and a wicked smile. "That's Rachel Thompson! _The_ star swimmer for the Lions. She has the fastest time for the 100 yard butterfly of all the top swimming schools."

Paige vaguely remembered Emily talking about her once before – with the same amount of enthusiasm. She looked at Rachel with more scrutiny. The woman was of average height with some curves, and extremely toned. The only thing that set her apart from the other swimmers physically was a scar at the base of her neck that curved up along her right shoulder. "Before she went to college, in high school, she got into a really bad car accident. She couldn't swim for almost two years. She got help with the doctor and could swim again. She went to a different college and got on their varsity team."

Paige was extremely impressed and looked at the woman with more respect and admiration than before. What a role model! She sat up straight when the three women walked over to them.

"Emily, Paige. This is Rachel Thompson. She's our captain and kind of a hotshot." Nikki playfully shoved her teammate. "Our practice is pretty much over so if you two wanna show us your stuff, you can. Samara told me you've got your suits on."

Emily had turned into a blushing, shy mess so Paige spoke for her. "Yes! That'd be awesome. Em's the best at butterfly, but she won't tell you that! I'm better at breaststroke." She promptly began shedding her clothes, revealing her favorite green bathing suit. She nudged Emily into motion and put her hair up into a bun. Nikki stepped forward and offered them both Penn State swim caps and goggles. Most of the adult swimmers had changed and were leaving to head home. Paige was relieved; she wasn't shy like Emily, but she did feel the weight of pressure lift. It was just the five of them gathered around the pool with a few women lounging off to the side, talking.

Paige curled her feet over the edge of the pool and beckoned for Emily who had just finished stepping out of her shorts and was in the process of putting on the cap and goggles. When both girls were at the starting block, Rachel came over. "So I'm going to time Emily, and Nik will time Paige. We're just gonna watch you and see what you've got! Down and back. No pressure or anything. Just swim like you guys normally would at a meet. Okay?"

Paige nodded and took up her ready position. She heard Emily beside her take a deep breath in and release it. Gone was the shy girl just moments ago and in its place was a talented and confident swimmer. Paige smirked and shifted in place. When the whistle blew, both girls dove into the pool. Paige began swimming breaststroke and Emily transitioned gracefully and easily into the butterfly.

Because the butterfly was considerably faster than the breaststroke, Emily finished her two laps (flip turn and all) in time to rip her goggles off and watch her friend finish hers. Paige's head and shoulders would break the surface first followed by two pale hands, before ducking quickly back underwater. The motion was swift, fluid, and precise. She had really improved both her stroke motion and time. She repeated it three more times before she slapped the wall. Exhilarated just from two laps, she glanced wildly at Emily then to the two women. "How did we do?"

Nikki let out a low whistle and knelt down and held the stopwatch out for them to look at. "A minute fifty-six, Paige! That is an extremely impressive time for a girl your age. You're a hell of a swimmer." The girl grinned at the praise, though she did gasp quietly at the curse word and shot Samara a concerned look. The blond caught it and cleared her throat, sending Nikki a look of her own. The red-head shrugged it off, quirking her lips.

"How'd Ems do?"

Rachel approached them and read the time, "A minute forty-seven. You girls must be on something, because those are amazing times! You know, if you were in college, I'd definitely want you both on my team!"

The girls high-fived each other and pulled themselves out of the water. Taking the offered towels from Samara, they sat down on the pool chairs. Nikki and Rachel started giving Paige and Emily respectively, some tips on their form, diet, and general swimming things.

When Paige glanced over her shoulder at the varsity star, she noticed how Emily was hanging onto her every word. A gentle nudge brought her back to Nikki. "You know, what you and Emily have is really special. Don't ever forget that or take it for granted, okay?" Paige ducked her head and felt a blush creeping up. She definitely knew how special Emily was and their friendship was the most important thing to her. "You're young, but I think you've got some great potential. You're extremely driven and hard-working. Keep doing what you're doing and you are so gonna go places, kid."

Pep talk over, they stood and Paige wrapped her arms around Nikki's middle. "Thanks a lot," she murmured.

She and Emily put their clothes back on; the shirts almost immediately gained wet spots in random places. They thanked Nikki and Rachel for their time and advice before turning to head back to the car. Emily challenged Paige to a race and they were off. Samara hung back briefly to ask Nikki when she would come visit UPenn. They hugged, exchanged a few brief kisses, and then the blond left to find the girls. No doubt they would give her an earful for taking her sweet time. Waiting three minutes probably felt like years to nine year olds. She laughed to herself and walked through the double doors, keys already out. Time to face the music.

* * *

><p>The drive back to Rosewood was quiet. When Samara asked the girls if they wanted to stop by Cracker Barrel and have some dinner, she was immediately shushed. Raising an eyebrow, she glanced back.<p>

Emily had spread out over two seats and was asleep on her side, head resting on Paige's lap. Paige made sure Samara understood before continuing to run her pale fingers through dark chocolate hair. She smiled fondly down at her best friend before returning her gaze out the window. It seemed like the world outside the car was moving so fast, but everything inside was normal speed. She felt irrationally worried that time was running out. Brows furrowed, Paige sighed quietly and rested her head against the window. She closed her eyes and willed time to slow down. She wanted this moment and feeling to last forever. Emily's silky soft hair, Samara's safe and comforting presence, the elation from meeting and swimming with two top college athletes, the overwhelming happiness she felt just by riding in car, and the calming sensations Samara's music created. A few more deep breaths later, she was asleep, a half-smile on her lips.

* * *

><p>"Hey guys, watch this!" Caleb bent his knees and successfully performed an Ollie on his skateboard. The girls clapped and hooted. Even though he had protective gear on his elbows and knees, and a helmet, the boy still managed to scrape his hands on the cement while practicing the most fundamental trick. It was the last week before school started – fourth grade for all of them – and they were spending it outside of Caleb's house. He and Emily were on skateboards, Paige was using his bike with pegs ("BMX," he'd said), and Hanna was pretending to ride a scooter.<p>

Paige ditched the bike and opted to chase Hanna, prompting the blond to actually play with them. She paused to brush her bangs out of the way; she started growing them out last year and they were almost long enough to tuck behind her ears. Hanna called out to Caleb to help her, but he just laughed and shook his head. He reflexively brought his hand up to run through his hair, but he'd gotten the mop chopped off and looked much cleaner with the shorter hair. Hanna continued to plead with him and gave him a sad look. Paige figured the blond's puppy eyes made Caleb cave because he heaved a sigh and immediately began chasing after her. Paige squealed when she saw him coming and bolted away, calling for reinforcements.

"Ems! I need some backup here!"

Emily looked around the street and spotted the bike. She struggled to lower the seat; Paige had grown a couple inches during the summer, increasing the height difference between the two of them. Satisfied, Emily rode it over to Paige who was busy trying to evade Caleb. "Hop on!"

Paige grinned, very proud of her friend's idea and planted her hands on Emily's shoulders and stood on the pegs. Her extra weight threw Emily off slightly and there was a delay in escaping. It was only a few seconds, but it was enough for Caleb to poke Paige in the ribs. "You're it!"

Paige was appalled that she'd actually been "caught" and that the game had unknowingly changed from keep away to tag. Scowling, she jumped off the bike and beckoned for Emily. "Come on, we gotta get them!"

The four of them moved the game to Caleb's backyard, perfect for running around and playing tag. They switched teams every few tags. First Caleb and Hanna were it, then just Caleb, then all the girls, then Paige and Emily, then Emily and Hanna, then Caleb and Paige. Somehow, they managed to entertain themselves for an hour straight just by playing tag. When Mrs. Rivers called them in for lemonade and tiny ham sandwiches, Paige collapsed in the kitchen chair. She and Caleb had been proclaimed honorary champion taggers of tag. Emily and Hanna were simply no match for the devious duo.

To complete the perfect summer day, all four kids migrated to the living room and took up positions on the couch, love seat, and floor. Caleb turned the TV on and they rested while watching SpongeBob Squarepants. Paige sat cross-legged on the floor, her back between Emily's legs, who was sitting in the loveseat. Emily was running her hands through Paige's auburn hair, entranced by its softness despite them having spent the day outside and sweating. It fell to her shoulder blades, just enough for a decent length braid. Emily set to work on her best friend's hair. When she leaned slightly to the side, she saw that Paige had closed her eyes. That made her smile.

Paige opened her eyes when she felt a tap on her shoulder. She ran a hand over the braid, impressed by its quality. Then again, Emily was never one to skimp on details. Hanna stole the remote from Caleb and switched to Disney Channel. "Wizards of Waverly Place" was on, which the blond was obviously happy about given her high-pitched squeal. Caleb half-heartedly tried to regain control of the remote, but Hanna stopped him with a sharp look. Whoa.

Three episodes later, the doorbell rang and seconds later, Mrs. Rivers called, "Paige, your mom's here for you and Emily!"

Both girls wriggled their way out of the loveseat, hugged Hanna and high-fived Caleb before walking to the front door. Paige hugged Mrs. Rivers and thanked her. Emily, not as familiar with the woman, mumbled "Thanks," and retreated out the door. Liz drove them back to the McCullers' house; Emily would be sleeping over as usual. There was rarely a day that went by when Paige and Emily weren't together. And Paige was completely okay with that.


End file.
